Love, Leaves, and Dead Bodies
by Blood-Spattered
Summary: A new intern has come to the Las Vegas crime lab, and she swiftly becomes involved in the solving of a triple-murder. Also, maybe things aren't going to remain so 'casual' between a male CSI and her. Rated for language
1. Introductions

Love, Leaves, and Dead Bodies

"I walk a lonely road,  
The only one that I have ever known,  
Don't know where it goes,  
But it's only me, and I walk alone…" A voice drifted softly through the empty hallways of the Las Vegas crime lab. The voice was obviously male, by the sounds of it, so lets go see who might be here so early, shall we? Nobody in the lab…not even Grissom is here yet…so who might it be…why, it's none other than Nick Stokes, CSI level 3. Jet-black hair, with that slightly mussed-up look that some ladies go for, and those brown pools for eyes, he seems…to be quite bored. Lounged back in one of the couches, throwing a paper ball up into the air and catching it. Yup, he was definitely bored.

He sighed, catching the paper one last time, then tossing it into the garbage. He'd just finished a case, and was waiting for his supervisor to arrive to give him a new case. He wondered, to himself, if he would be working with Sara again…not that he didn't like Sara, but she could be a bit…overpowering. He continued singing the familiar song by Green Day to himself, apparently unaware that someone could hear him…

That someone wasn't well known in the crime lab…actually she wasn't known at all, as she'd only just arrived about five minutes ago. To examine her, from the top down, you'd find dirty-blonde hair, slightly curly, falling to just above her shoulders. Blue eyes gave the slightly tanned face some colour, followed by her nose, which was slightly indented at the bridge from 17 years of wearing glasses. She'd finally got rid of them a couple years ago, to her relief. Pale pink lips made their home in the lower half of her face, making the innocent-looking female a little pretty. Certainly no super-model, but not too bad.

Her figure was good, and she was slim and had good muscle-tone. You must be wondering at this point who this mysterious female is, and why she is in the crime lab. Well, this is Danielle Ryan, the newest member of the CSIs little 'family'. Well, she would be eventually, anyway…she hoped…She'd just moved to Las Vegas from up in Southern Canada, where she'd had a job in the crime lab of Toronto, as a lab technician. After a few years of doing that, she'd gotten tired of waiting to be an intern. So, she packed up her stuff, and shipped herself down to Las Vegas. Luckily, with her previous experience, and her recommendations, she'd gotten a job fairly quickly. So, her first day as an intern, and as a member of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, which was both nerve-racking and exciting.

_Ok, dropped off my stuff in my assigned locker…didn't she say to find the break room, and that Gil Grissom would be in soon? _Were her current thoughts when the soft singing broke into her thoughts, and she looked up, curious, then started to walk along the hallway, tracing it to it's source, which was obviously the break room. She paused in the doorway, listening to the unknown male, who was obviously unaware of her presence. After a moment, she knocked softly on the doorframe, which made him jump and stop in mid-verse, jumping to his feet.  
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you…" She said, smiling. "Was that Boulevard of Broken Dreams you were singing? I love that song." Nick was still staring at her, obviously totally lost. "Uh…ya…it was…" He said uncertainly, trying to figure out who she was and why she was in the crime lab.  
"Oh, right…forgetting my manners, I guess I should introduce myself…" She stuck out one fair-skinned hand, smiling. "Danielle Ryan. I'm the new intern, nice to meet you…" She waited for him to give his name, still smiling warmly. "Oh, right, I thought I heard something about a new intern." He said, smiling a dazzling smile himself, now that he had an explanation for her presence. "Nick Stokes, nice to meet you too."  
"Where is everyone, anyway? You're the first person I've seen so far…" She asked, still smiling, and released his hand after a moment.   
"Well, Grissom should be arriving shortly, he's almost always at least half an hour early for the shift, so is Sara…as for Catherine and Warrick, they'll be here in about ten minutes, I would guess." He said, nodding, examining her casually. _She's pretty…_ He thought to himself, not in a dirty way, just a casual way.

"Oh, I see…" She said, nodding, examining him as well, although she didn't judge people on looks. She also often put up a wall around her heart, as she'd been hurt before in love, and wasn't easy to get close to anymore.

As they were talking, Mr. Gilbert Grissom walked in, holding some folders, closely followed by Sara Sidle, Catherine Willows, and Warrick Brown, who, coincidentally, had all arrived at around the same time. Grissom, without even addressing her, started talking to the others. "Catherine, you and Sara got a DB over on Elm's street…" He said, handing them the folder, but neither of them left, gazing quizzically at Dani, who was feeling rather uncomfortable, shifting from foot to foot. Grissom didn't seem to notice, just handed Warrick a folder, telling him to take Greg with him, who had just appeared in the doorway. Although the others had been quiet, Greg didn't seem to be so discreet.  
"Who's the cute new girl?" He asked, doing a fairly lame attempt at flirting as he strolled into the break room, standing next to Dani, who smiled weakly. Grissom glanced at her, then back down at his folder, and when he didn't say anything, she took the initiative.  
"Danielle Ryan…nice to meet you…" She said, trailing off at the awkward silence, which was quickly broken by Catherine, who had put two and two together. "Oh, you must be the new intern, right?" She asked, and when Dani nodded earnestly, the whole tension seemed to relax, and everyone was introducing themselves at once.  
"Catherine Willows, great to meet you…"  
"Warrick Brown, how's it going?"  
"Sara Sidle, hope we get to work together!"

"Greg Sanders…also known as the Cute One."  
Nick and Grissom just sort of watched, Nick grinning in an amused way, and Grissom looking a bit peeved. Soon, however, the others had left to go on their separate assignments, Greg with a blow-kiss goodbye, which she didn't return, and she was alone with who she assumed was Gil Grissom, and Nick.

"I'm Gil Grissom…" He said, finally, extending his hand, which Dani shook solemnly. "You have the pleasure of accompanying me and Nick here to our assignment." He handed Nick the folder, and she peered over his shoulder to read it. "Three dead bodies found in a river…" She read out loud to herself, and was immediately excited. "Sounds…challenging." She said finally, smiling.

((You guys better review, or you'll never see the next chapter…you hear me? NEVER!! Muhahahahahahaha!! Ya, I know, it's short, but there'll be more!! As long as you review…))


	2. Dead Bodies

Disclaimer: Forgot to put this on the first chapter. Ok, I obviously do not own CSI or any of it's characters, HOWEVER, I DO own MY character, Danielle Ryan. She is all mine and if you try to steal her or my plot, you shall be severely punished. Anyway, ya, I don't own CSI or it's characters, and I'm certainly not making money off of it.

Chapter 2 

Nick nodded at her comment, grinning. He already liked her, she had a good attitude. Maybe even a bit spunky. Grissom, without another comment, started to walk out of the room, and Nick hurried to catch up, closely followed by Dani, who had caught on that she was supposed to follow them. First thing to do…get Danielle a field kit. Grissom quickly grabbed the one that had been prepared for her arrival and handed it to her, and she took it, resisting the urge to sit down on the floor and go through it like a two-year old examining a new toy.

Without even pausing, Grissom started towards the parking lot, where his Tahoe was parked. Nick barely had time to grab his own field kit before Grissom was getting in the car, and turning on the engine. Nick climbed into the passenger seat and Dani crawled into the back. As soon as she'd closed the door, Grissom sped off, nearly throwing her off the seat. "Woah, what's the hurry?" Nick asked, glancing back at Dani who was quickly pulling on her seatbelt before she got killed by the crazy driving. Well, it was crazy for Grissom, anyway, it was barely risky for most people. Grissom didn't answer, just kept driving, not even apologising to Dani or Nick.

Nick shared a puzzled glance with Dani in the rear-view mirror, showing that he had no more idea than she did, but she was looking just a little nervous as Grissom sped around corners, and her knuckles were white on her field kit. He gave her a small reassuring smile, although his own hand was gripping the armrest rather tightly. She gave a small smile back at him to try and show that she wasn't scared…much…

They finally arrived at the crime scene and Grissom climbed out, as did a slightly dazed, but curious Dani and an equally curious Nick. They were walking, and she saw one body, and started to move towards it, but when Grissom didn't alter his path, she faltered and slunk back into following Nick sheepishly. They passed the second body which she also made the mistake of starting to go to, and finally, Grissom stopped at the third body, which was lying on its back. She glanced at it, raising an eyebrow. The coroner, who introduced himself as David, nodded at Grissom. She'd been pronounced dead, they could start doing their stuff.

"Any ID?" Grissom asked, looking down at the body, which was obviously female, and Dani, uncertain what she should be doing, sort of hung back, standing slightly in front of Nick. "Nope…no wallet…no purse, nothing. You're gonna need dental records or DNA to ID her, because nobody's going to recognise her face." David answered. "What do you mean?" Dani interjected curiously. David leaned down and carefully rolled the body over, revealing her face. She gasped in horror and jumped back, stumbling and instinctively grabbing onto whatever was closest to keep from falling, which happened to be Nick, who had taken a step back, his mouth dropping open. The face…or what was left of it, rather, had obviously been melted away, leaving nothing but skeleton and a bit of flesh.

((ya, I know I said I wouldn't add another chapter until people reviewed, but I changed my mind…and it's also very short, you may notice…sorry, had writer's block..))


	3. Unpleasant Discoveries

Chapter 3

Grissom was the only one who hadn't reacted. In fact, he took a picture, then kneeled down, taking a swab of the face, which made Dani shudder, with Nick's shoulder still clenched in a death-grip by her left hand. He was equally disgusted, but was slightly distracted by the sharp pain radiating from his right shoulder, where Dani had her finger's clenched.

Noticing Nick glance at his shoulder, she quickly dislodged her fingers, taking a small step away from him. "Sorry…" She muttered. "S'alright." He said reassuringly. No big deal, after all, not like he'd been expecting it…and it was her first case. They then both brought their attentions back to Grissom, who was peering at the body, apparently thinking. "Acid." He said, after a moment, then stood up, glancing at Nick and Dani for the first time. He noticed that Dani looked a little green, and decided he could handle this body by himself, with David's help. "You guys head over to the first body, start processing…Nick, take Miss. Ryan through it, make sure she knows what she's doing."

"Call me Dani…" She said quietly, but he barely recognised that she'd said anything, and Nick started walking back towards the first body gratefully, and she quickly scurried after him, and he couldn't help but feel rather sorry for her. She had no idea what she was doing, had just been shoved into this case headfirst, and had to try and figure out how things worked on her own. She glanced at the second body as they passed it, and saw that she didn't have her face melted off like the last body. She did, however, have the same build, and looks. Blonde hair, medium height, slim…hmm…could be looking at a signature here…The thought of how much she looked like each of the victims didn't come to her at the moment.

They finally came to the first body they'd seen, who had been found on the shore of the river by a jogger, face-up, her eyes open, staring blankly up at the sky. As they walked up to the body, which was still lying where it was found. Nick climbed down the bank ahead of her, then turned around and held out his hands to help her down. "Careful, it's slippery." He warned as she grabbed one of his hands and half-slid, half-climbed down the bank, banging into him. "Sorry!" She said, flushing slightly. "It's ok." He reassured her again, grinning.

They both walked over to the body, and he dug into his bag, pulling out a camera. "Er…you can just follow me until you get the hang of it." He said, not really having much experience in teaching others how to do things. "Alright." She said, feeling a little relieved. She'd thought she was going to have to try and figure it all out on her own.

Nick started walking around the body, voicing his thoughts out loud, pointing to various things on the body. "Ligature marks on the neck…signs of strangulation…" He said, taking a photograph, then kneeled down, gently lifting up the wrists to look at the hands. "No defensive wounds…" He muttered, taking another photo. As he was talking, her eyes glanced at the wrists, where, through sheer luck, she noticed something. "There's adhesive residue on her wrists." She said, pointing, and, after pulling on some gloves, kneeling and lifting up the other wrist, which showed the same thing. Nick nodded, smiling at her. "You're right…can you get me a swab, please?" She nodded, carefully putting the wrist down and fishing into her kit for a moment, then handing it to him. "Thanks. Al right, so it looks as if she had her wrists duct-taped…" He trailed off, glancing up at her face. "And her mouth…" He took another sample of adhesive residue from her mouth area.

Dani, who had looked up at the face as well, stopped listening, staring at her. "Blonde hair…medium height…slim…" She murmured, making Nick look up curiously. "What was that?" He asked, cocking his head at her. She looked up, then back down at the body. "The victims…they all have blonde hair…are of medium height…and are slim…and this one and the second one both had blue eyes, so I'm guessing that the third one…" He looked down at the body, thinking of the other two, and nodded slowly. "You're right…maybe whoever did this targets those kinds of women…" He glanced up at her, then back down at the bodies. "Hey, don't go off on your own, ok? Whoever did this might still be nearby…" She nodded solemnly, not even realising that she matched the bio of the three victims as well.

((Yes…more shortness…and I still didn't get more reviews, so I hope to get some soon! Thanks to my one reviewer, CSIFan4Life. You're my idol!! XD))


	4. Strange Feelings

Chapter 4

Soon, they had done all they could with the body, and the coroners shipped it away to the lab. Now came the real challenge…the crime scene. Dani stood on the bank, hands on her hips, staring around the scene, exhaling slowly. "The problem here is that we don't have much of a crime scene…from the lack of blood, I'd say she wasn't even killed here…" Nick said, from behind her, and she turned, smiling and nodding. Nick was always driven to distraction by her smile. There was just something about it…but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, so he tried to ignore it. Get the crime scene finished and make sure whoever this sicko was, that he didn't go after Dani or anyone else. Dani, amazingly, seemed not at all concerned that she matched the bio of the vics. He admired that courage.

Actually, Dani, focussed totally on the job, still hadn't quite made the connection. She stretched out some kinks in her muscles, stretching her arms above her head, pulling her T-shirt up slightly, revealing a bit of mid-rift before dropping down again as she dropped her arms, yawning. "So, what are we looking for then?" She asked finally, glancing at him, who quickly dropped his eyes down at his camera, pretending to be adjusting something on it. He'd been slightly distracted by the appearance of her waist, and had been staring, mouth slightly gaping. Luckily, nobody noticed him and Dani looked just a split-second too late to see it.

"Just look for anything out of place or that might have something to do with the murder." He said, as professionally as he could manage without looking directly at her. Wondering why he wasn't looking at her, she shrugged it off and started to walk around, doing as she'd been instructed, looking for anything that might be useful. Nick, hearing the crunch of leaves as she started walking around, suddenly realised something and quickly yelled out. "Stop! Don't move!" She immediately froze in mid-step, looking scared. "Those leaves! They were all stuck to the body before, that means if we find out where they came from, we'll find where she was murdered!!" He said quickly, to calm her down. Comprehending, she carefully moved back out of the leaves. "I'll get a trash bag." She said, and climbed up the bank towards the Tahoe's, giving Nick a moment to collect his thoughts.

Nick liked Dani, she had a nice personality and attitude. They'd been chatting idly while they were checking out the body, and as he learned more about her, the more he'd just become curious. She had a spunky attitude that he admired, and an easy-going, kind, bouncy personality that just left him breathless. He attributed the waist attraction just to the classic male response to a pretty woman, and to infatuation. Just as he was thinking this, Dani stumbled down the bank right next to her, and would've fallen had he not quickly caught her, and she grinned, looking up at him from her position in his partial embrace. "Saved your life…" He said weakly, and she chuckled, then pulled away and held out one of the two bags that she held in her hands.

He let her go quickly, taking the bag. "Alright, pick up all the leaves from the area where we found the body." He said, then started, forcing himself not to glance at her. Dani had also started, working near the riverbank, picking up any leaves that were in the water nearby too. It didn't take her long to figure out that she wasn't going to be able to reach all the leaves from her current position, so she paused, pulling off her shoes and socks and rolling up her pants, then waded in about shin deep, reaching into the water, and shivering. The water was freezing cold and it didn't take long for her legs to go numb and her teeth to start chattering.

Nick, as focussed on the job as he was, couldn't help but hear the loud chattering noise and looked up, mouth dropping open in shock when he saw that was Dani was in the water. For a split second, he thought she'd fallen in, then he noticed the shoes and socks lying neatly on the bank. So she was freezing her legs off for the sake of the case. Wow, that was…noble. Apparently finished, she climbed out, still shivering, and quickly rolled down her pant legs and pulled her shoes and socks back on. She noticed him watching her, and gave a small smile before returning to the work of collecting leaves. Even from there, he could see that she was freezing in the skimpy T-shirt, and paused, thinking. Then he walked over, pulling off his jacket as he went and draped it around her shoulders, causing her to jump and look at him questioningly.

"Wear it, you need it more than I do." He said, when she started to take it off, and without another word, walked back towards his bag, and continued collecting leaves as if nothing had happened. Dani, after staring at him for a moment, feeling oddly warm, and not just from the addition from the coat. She put her arms through the sleeves, which fell way past her hands, then rolled them up so that she could use her hands. The jacket was still warm from its previous occupant, and it made her oddly tingly on the outside from that knowledge, which she didn't really understand. It was just Nick, after all. She then returned to leaf collecting, but now she just couldn't stop smiling, even if only to herself.

Nick, although now his arms were a little chilly, felt warm on the inside, which didn't make sense. It only took them about half an hour to collect all the leaves, and Nick climbed up the bank with the leaves, then held out his hand to help her up, which she took and he pulled her up with practised ease. _She's so light…like a feather…_ He thought to himself, as he was used to pulling up Warrick or Grissom, who were definitely not featherweights. Not expecting to be pulled up so fast, she stumbled a little, falling onto him, but he steadied her. She looked up at him again, smiling almost slyly, then pulled away, taking one of the bags and taking it with her to the Tahoe, where Grissom was standing, ready to go back to the lab. He raised an eyebrow as he saw Dani wearing Nick's jacket, which she noticed and hastily pulled it off, handing it back to him.

"How did you guys do?" Grissom asked, not making a comment on the jacket. "We did alright." She said, nodding, and glancing at Nick, who agreed. He pulled on his jacket, which was toasty warm on the inside from Dani's warm skin. "Alright, let's head back to the lab….we got a lot of work to do…" Grissom said, then climbed into the Tahoe, followed by Nick in the passenger seat, and then finally Dani in the back seat. She made sure to pull on her seatbelt tightly before they left this time.

----------------------------------------Crime Lab, half an hour later---------------------------------

Nick and Dani had just gotten into the evidence room and dumped the leaves they'd found on the table, which was now almost overflowing, the amount of leaves was so large. They were both staring at the seemingly impossible task of figuring out where the girl was killed. That involved: A. Figuring out what kind of leaves these were and then B: Where they grew the most. A long and difficult task, to say the least. Nick had rummaged in the bookshelves for about 10 minutes before he finally found a book about the trees of Las Vegas. After a few seconds of staring at the pile, they glanced at each other, grinned, and set down to work. As they got a match, they would put a green tack of where the tree grew the most on a large map of the Las Vegas area they'd stuck up on the wall.

Dani, to Nick's surprise, was a big help when it came to finding things in reference books. She found at least three-quarters of the leaves in the books for him, when he was having trouble even understanding the index. Every so often, one of them would pose a random question, such as "What college did you go to?" or "Where did you grow up?" and then would pause in their work long enough to listen to the answer, and were genuinely interested. After 2 hours, they were left with one leaf-type to find in the book, and Dani was so tired that the words on the page were starting to blur together, but she managed to focus long enough to find the picture, and then Nick put up the last tack.

She rested her head on her arms, staring at the map. It was obvious where almost all of the green tacks were. Nick, more used to the late hours than she, stood by the map, and pointed. " _That _is where we have to go." He said, and she nodded sleepily. Feeling sympathy for her, he handed her his unfinished cup of coffee. Lots of caffeine. "Drink it, I need you awake to help me out." He said, and she took it reluctantly, taking a sip. After finishing the cup, she did indeed perk up a bit. "Let's go find Grissom, and tell him we're going." She said, assuming they needed to ok everything with the supervisor. He nodded and led the way out of the room, towards Grissom's office.

She followed behind him, casually observing him from the back. _Those are nice muscles there…woah, wait a second…did I just think that? Bad…bad thoughts… _Her thoughts continued like that, until she was distracted by Grissom's appearance. After telling him where they were going, Grissom instructed Nick to bring Greg along with them, as he needed the field experience. Not that he didn't trust Nicky with Dani, it was more that he just would rather be safe than sorry.

After retrieving Greg, they walked out to one of the Tahoes, where Danielle quickly claimed the passenger seat, to Greg's obvious disappointment. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather sit back here with me? Nicky never pays that much attention to whoever is sitting back here…" He said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. She raised one eyebrow and pulled on her seatbelt, deciding not to dignify that with a response. Although usually Greg's pathetic attempts at flirting would have amused him, today they annoyed him for some reason. "Shut it, Greg!" He snapped from the front seat, making Dani smile impishly and Greg feel put-out. Soon they were off, towards a clearing, a couple miles from where they'd found the girl's body. What would they find there?

((…and you'll find out NEXT chapter!! Muhahahah!! Yes, I finally made a LONG Chapter!! is proud Thanks to my now TWO reviewers!! CSICowboy and CSIFan4Life, you guys are my heros!! I hope I didn't make it too sappy now…please review!!))


	5. More Leaves and perhaps Love?

Chapter 5

The drive was only about half an hour, with Greg snoring in the back most of the way, which left Dani and Nick to try and chat over him. Although neither noticed the other having the problem, they both seemed to be having trouble keeping their eyes off of the other. This was especially problematic for Nick, since he had to keep his eyes on the road or they'd crash. He wasn't sure what it was about her that was drawing his attention, but his decision was it was just because she was very pretty, and he liked to look at her. Of course, if she caught him staring at her, that would be awkward.

Dani, similarly to Nick, was totally oblivious to everything except for Nick's eyes whenever she looked in that direction, and so was having trouble keeping up with the conversation. Either Nick was too concentrated on keeping his eyes on the road to notice, or she did a good job of hearing enough to answer the questions with answers that made sense, because he didn't notice.

They finally pulled into a sort of clearing that served as a place to park. They'd have to walk the rest of the way from here. Nick turned and whacked Greg on the leg to wake him up, and he snorted and nearly rolled out of the seat, blinking. "We're here already?" He asked groggily. She giggled and nodded. "Ya, we're here…" Nick felt, for just a second, what felt a bit like a flare of jealousy. Jealous of what, though? Unable to come up with an explanation, he tried to shrug it off and climbed out. Before she could even finish taking off her seatbelt, he was on the other side of the car, opening her door for her, offering his hand.

"It's a big step…" He explained feebly when she raised her eyebrow. She smiled, flattered, and took his hand, stepping carefully down from the car. He gave an exaggerated bow, and grinned. "Milady." He said, adding a British accent on top of his Texan one, making her laugh, which made him feel oddly good. Greg observed all this as he opened the door, and raised an eyebrow. "Hmm…interesting…" He said to himself, which neither of the other two heard. "Let's get going, already, jeez…" He said, climbing out and walking towards the trunk to get the supplies. They both broke their gaze on each other; as if they'd both just remembered that Greg was there.

"Ya, let's." She said, trying to collect her thoughts and concentrate on the case. What was with her? _The case is top priority, flirting with Nick will come…wait, did I just say FLIRTING with Nick? I'm not flirting with him…I'm not…am I? No, yes…no… _She forced her mind away from the internal debate and grabbed her field kit, as did Nick, resulting in a slight bumping of heads. "Whoops, sorry!" She said, chuckling. "It's ok, I've got a hard head, didn't even feel it." He said, smiling, and rapped on his head a bit with his knuckles, as if emphasising the point. She smiled and he shut the trunk, and through it all Greg watched, a pondering expression on his face.

They started walking up the trail, Nick leading the way, followed by Greg, and then Dani. The two men, without the extra hassle of long hair that was constantly getting caught in branches, were always ahead of her, and she was always having to jog a bit to catch up. At one point, her hair got totally caught, and she couldn't get it out, and Nick walked all the way back and gently got it untangled for her. She smiled and thank him sincerely, feeling kind of…tingly inside. She ignored it and they continued, finally reaching the clearing where the leaves told them she'd been killed. Dani had leaves sticking every which way from her blonde hair, to her annoyance, but left them for the time being.

"Great…more leaves…" She muttered, staring at the clearing, which was covered in about an ankle-deep layer of leaves. Nick nodded in agreement, and Greg, having not had to sort all those leaves, just shrugged. "Divide and conquer?" She suggested, glancing at the other two. Nick smiled a dazzling smile and nodded. "Ya, we should probably divide it into squares…since there's only three of us, we might as well keep the number small…twelve sound ok to you guys?" He looked around at the other two, Dani nodding without hesitation, smiling widely. Greg just shrugged again, not really caring all that much. Nick started fishing into his bag, pulling out a ball of string. "Come on, Dani, help me here. Greg, you start setting up with this ball." He tossed the ball of string to a scowling Greg, who caught it and started tying it around a tree.

Dani yawned, following Nick and reached to take one end of the string, brushing hands with him, causing a weird tingling to spread from her fingers, but she tried to ignore it and grabbed the string. She went to tie it around one of the trees while Nick walked backwards, spreading it horizontally, nearly banging into Greg, who was going vertically. Greg, rather uncharacteristically, didn't comment, just kept going.

After about fifteen minutes, they had divided the clearing into 3 columns, which contained four squares each. Dani stood in the far right corner of the clearing, leaning against a tree, grinning a bit at their achievement. "I'll take this column." She said, indicating the column she was standing in front of. "I've got the middle." Greg said quickly, and Nick, reluctantly, took the last column. "Let's get started." He said, and they all went to their respective squares, collecting the leaves into trash bags as they went.

As the sun crept over the horizon, Dani paused to discard her jacket and sweater, as she started to sweat, leaving her in her skimpy black T-shirt again, then continued along, now in her second square. Greg was distracted momentarily, then went back to his work, smiling to himself as he saw Nick almost stare at Dani for a good five minutes. He now had a strong suspicion that maybe Nick felt more than friendship for their newest colleague. Nah…Nick didn't just fall in love like that, he was more cautious. He returned to his leaves, not giving it another thought.

They continued like that for about 20 more minutes, when Greg finally found what they'd been looking for. "Hey! I've found blood!" He yelled from his position kneeling on the ground in his third square. Dani looked up from her own fourth and last square, then carefully crossed under the string, as did Nick, and they both knelt to look at the leaves that Greg was shining his ultraviolet light on. They were obviously glowing, indicating the presence of blood. "Collect all the bloody leaves in a separate bag, ok, Greg?" Nick said, smiling at the young intern. "Make sure not to miss any. Dani, keep collecting leaves, you're almost done anyway. If you see any blood, again, keep them separate from the other leaves…" She nodded, and smiled at him before ducking under the rope again, returning to her previous square. Nick had also been almost finished, and within fifteen minutes they were all done, and the clearing was, for the most part, clear of leaves.

"Now what?" She asked Nick, who gazed at her as if lost for a moment, before quickly snapping back to reality. "Er…right…well, there is blood here, and a lot of it at that, which makes me think that the murder was more than likely performed here. We've got to find the owner of the land, tape off this clearing…" He trailed off, wondering what else there might be to do. Just as he was thinking about this, Warrick strolled in from the path. "Hey guys, Griss sent me, he said you guys might need help." He said, walking carefully over to the trio. "Hi Warrick." Dani said, smiling. Greg gave a sort of half-wave. Nick grinned. "Hey Brown, that's great, you and Greggo can tape this off, then find the owner of the land and take him in for questioning." Before Warrick or Greg could object, he was walking down the path, carrying the bag of bloody leaves over one shoulder. Dani followed with a shrug at the other two.

She caught up with him about a quarter of the way down the path. She gazed at him for a moment, smiling, then posed the question, bracing herself for the answer. "Are we going to have to sort more leaves?" He glanced at her, then nodded. "Yup. We've got to try and re-create the crime." She nodded absently, following along behind him, and they spent the rest of the ten-minute walk in silence. It wasn't uncomfortable, exactly, but it felt a little awkward.

They arrived at the Tahoe, and Nick dumped the bag in the back. Dani leaned against the hood of the car, looking up at the sky, which showed that it was getting to be late in the morning. "How long have we been here?" She asked, glancing at him. He paused, glancing at his watch as he pulled the trunk closed, and started walking towards her. "About 4 hours." He answered, and had been about to say something else when his foot caught on something and he tripped, placing both hands on either side of Dani to keep from falling on top of her. He looked at her, and found himself staring right into her bright blue eyes, their noses almost touching, they were so close. They stood like that for what seemed like a long time, but was more like 10 or 20 seconds, then Nick pulled back, almost reluctantly. "Sorry," He muttered, not sure what he was apologising for anymore. "It's ok…" She said, climbing into the Tahoe, followed by him, and they started off, the car filled with a rather awkward silence.

((A/N: And…done for now!! Thank you to my now MANY reviewers, you guys are my idols!! I don't have a list right now, so I'll try to remember them all: CSIFan4life, CSICowboy, Carly, CabbyWolf…if I'm missing someone, I'm sooo sorry, but you guys are all the best!! Chapter 6 will be up soon, I hope, although I may have writer's block for a bit…))


	6. Drinking Coffee and Solving Crimes

Chapter 6

For the first 10 minutes of the ride back to the lab, there was nothing but silence in the car. Both parties were trying to decipher what had just happened, and although neither of them spoke, they seemed to make an agreement not to bring it up. What's past is past, and they both seemed to want to pretend it never happened…at least until they could explain it, which neither of them were having much luck with.

_It's just a crush, it's just a crush, it's nothing, just a crush…I'll be over him in a week, maybe less…right? _Dani was thinking to herself, staring blankly out the window at the passing scenery, trying to convince herself of what her mind was telling her. It wasn't real, just infatuation, of course…right? Yes, that's right…just infatuation…nothing more…

Nick, having resolved pretty much the same thing as Dani, finally broke the awkward silence. "You want to stop for coffee? You must be tired…" She glanced at him, then smiled. "Ya, we can go through the drive-thru at that Starbucks we saw on the way here." She pointed as it came up, and Nick nodded and turned in, and after the grey Ford in front of them was through, they pulled up the window. "What do you want?" Nick asked, glancing at her for a moment. She leaned over him so that the teen in the window would hear her.

"Medium coffee, sugar and milk, but no cream, got it?" She always ordered the same coffee, whether it was Tim Hortons up in Canada or Starbucks down here. "Ya, I got it…" Said the teen in a rather bored voice, regarding her for a moment, and mussing up his hair while Nick ordered a medium coffee, plain black. Although she started to fish into her wallet to find money for it, before she knew it the car was moving, the coffees were in the cup-holders and Nick had paid for hers.

"You didn't have -" She started, but he interrupted her abruptly. "I know, but I decided you could use a break. You've had a rough day, consider it my treat." She smiled, and started to replace her wallet into her pocket. "Fine, if you insist, but I won't forget to pay you back." She said, taking her coffee and taking a sip. The tension that had existed in the car had vanished out the window, and they were chatting almost non-stop all the way back to the lab, where they both climbed out and towards the trunk, where the bag of leaves sat.

"I got the leaves, you just gotta open the doors for me." Nick said, leaning down to grab the leaves. "Aye, Aye, Captain." She said, with a mock salute, then giggled and went to open the door for Nick. About halfway to the garage, where they were going to sort out all the leaves from the clearing, Grissom called from his office. "Nick? We found out who the second body is. A Ms. Tracy Gomez, the mom's on her way to identify the body, could you be there? Catherine and Warrick are both out, and I'm busy." Nick sighed and nodded.

"What time?" He thought to ask before walking away. "In around half an hour." Grissom said over his shoulder, watching as Dani's shoulders slumped. Nick also noticed. "What's the matter?" He asked, and she immediately straightened, looking at him. "Er…nothing…" She said, and although she obviously wasn't telling the whole truth, he didn't press it. "Alright, let's get these leaves to the garage, then I've gotta go get ready for the mum…" She nodded, pushing open the last door for him, where the rest of the leaves from the clearing had already been delivered.

Nick whistled at the overwhelming amount, and patted Dani on the shoulder. "Good luck, I'll come back and help as soon as I can." She smiled and nodded, walking towards the pile, pulling on some gloves, then yawned, stretching. There was a tub for bloody leaves, and a pile for non-bloody leaves. Pretty simple. She grabbed the first bag, dumping it out, and sat cross-legged on the floor, holding an ultraviolet light over the pile. It only took her about 10 minutes to finish the first bag, and she still had at least 19 to go. Oh boy.

------------------------1 and a half hours later -------------------------------------------------------

Dani dropped the last handful of leaves into the tub and yawned, standing up and stretching out the kinks that had developed in her muscles from almost two hours of standing still. She glanced at her watch, which showed that it was 2:30 in the afternoon. She hadn't slept in almost 48 hours, and she was exhausted. She sat against one of the tubs, waiting for Nick to come back, and trying very hard not to fall asleep. However, it appears body does have some control over mind, for within fifteen minutes she was sleeping, her body slowing tipping sideways until she was lying on the ground, her blonde hair spilling over her face.

The wrong people might have caught her at it, had not Nick found her about ten minutes later. He would have come back a lot sooner, but Warrick had cornered him in the hallway and convinced him to help him with something. He hadn't even expected Dani to be done yet, when he walked in, and was surprised to find that she was not just done, but asleep. He regarded her for a moment, shutting the door so that she wouldn't get in trouble, and took a sip of his coffee. _She's beautiful when she's sleeping…_He thought, then jumped a bit, and mentally slapped himself. Woah…back up…not good… He quickly strode over, kneeling down and gently shaking her shoulder.

"Hey…" He said gently, and she opened her eyes slowly, blinking for a moment in confusion, then sat up quickly, narrowly avoiding smacking Nick in the chin with her head, flushing a deep shade of crimson. She couldn't believe she'd fallen asleep…whatever happened to mind over body? "Er…I'm done…" She said, indicating the tubs, and turning a deeper red colour as Nick just grinned at her, taking a sip of coffee.

"Don't worry, it happens to the best of us." He said, and left it at that, glancing at the tubs. "Good job, you really work fast." He said, and realised that he still had his hand on her shoulder, and quickly put it down to his side, standing up. She scrambled to her feet, looking down at her shoes, face slowly returning to a normal shade.

"So, now we must re-create the crime scene…" She walked over to the dry-erase board, grabbing a green marker. She drew a box, dividing it into 12 squares, like they had in the clearing. She coloured in four of the boxes red. "This is where we found all the blood, and most of it was in these two." She pointed to two of the squares, and Nick nodded. "So we must assume the actual murder took place right here…the girl died of a stab wound directly to the heart, so that would explain that…" He paused, trailing off, thinking. "We need Grissom." He said, and walked off towards the door without another word.

She started to follow, then put one hand on his arm to stop him. "You won't tell him…I was sleeping, will you?" She asked, letting her hand drop after a moment. There were now goosebumps all over Nick's arms, luckily hidden by his shirt. "No, I won't…don't worry…" He said, smiling and pushed open the door, both of them walking down the hall in silence.

((Ya, I know, horrible way to end a chapter…thanks again to ALL my reviewers, you guys ROCK!! Chapter 7 might be a while in coming, I'm still not sure what is going to happen next…Sorry it's so short...I have terrible writer's block today...))


	7. Autopsies and Upset Interns

Chapter 7

After a full fifteen minutes of silent searching for Grissom, they finally found him just exiting the break room, a steaming cup of coffee in one hand, and a file in the other, which he was scanning intensely.

"Yo Griss, we could use your help with our crime reconstruction…we haven't found any blood trail away from the body, so she must have bled out at the scene…" Nick said, stopping in front of him. Dani stood next to him, feeling a little awkward.

Grissom just gave Nick a rather irritated look. "Didn't you ever play in the leaves as a kid, Nick?" Nick gave him a confused look, then nodded. "Uh…ya…why?" He asked, totally lost. Dani pondered, trying to figure out the connection, but couldn't quite get it, and shrugged when Nick glanced at her.

Grissom sighed, and shook his head, then glanced at his watch. "Both of you go to the lab, Doc's waiting for you to start the autopsies." With that, he walked away, leaving Dani nervous and Nick confused.

Nick smiled at Dani, and indicated down the hallway. "That lab is thataway, and I hope you didn't eat too much for lunch…" She gulped, but started down the hall semi-confidently, and Nick grinned, despite himself. He was curious as to how long Dani would last before puking up her lunch. _Better make sure there's an empty garbage can before Doc starts…_ He made a mental note to himself.

Dani was trying to mentally brace herself for what she was about to see. Ya, she'd drawn diagrams of the different systems, and made it, barely, through dissecting a frog in Grade 10, but a real body…quite a different story… She was afraid of losing control in front of Doctor Robbins, who she had yet to meet, which meant losing her lunch. She waited in front of the doors for Nick, who pushed open the door and walked in, and she followed, hanging back behind him.

Her first impression of Doctor Robbins was…friendly. His face seemed to have a hint of a smile always hidden at the corner of his mouth. His beard was white, tinged slightly with gray, and his blue eyes seemed to look right at her. Not through her, not past her, but right at her. He hobbled out from behind the table using his metal crutch, holding out one wrinkled hand.

"You must be the new intern, Doctor Robbins, chief medical examiner." She smiled and shook his hand. "Danielle Ryan, but you can call me Dani, really nice to meet you." After about five milliseconds, he dropped his hand and returned to the body lying on the table.

"First autopsy, I'm assuming?" He asked, glancing at her with a slight grin. She nodded, swallowing nervously, smiling weakly. "Are you nervous? Of course you are…don't worry, you'll be fine…" He said, standing near the body, waiting for Nick and her to come over. She moved as close as she dared, giving a quick glance at the body, and let out a slow hiss of air as she saw that it was the third body. Acid girl. Wooonderful…

"Well, the face speaks for itself, but I'll articulate anyway." He moved over to the upper part of the body, apparently not at all effected by the melted face, unlike Dani, who's face had gone a shade paler. Nick, although he didn't show it on the outside, was nearly as disgusted as her. "As is obvious, it was melted off by an acid of some sort, making the features unrecognizable. I'll come back to that later…Also, bruising around the neck area makes me think asphyxiation…" He reached for a knife to make the initial cut in the chest.

_Don't throw up, don't throw up, don't throw up, don't throw up…_Dani kept repeating to herself as the doctor started making the cut, and it seemed to be moving in agonizingly slow motion. She gulped, and Nick, after a moment of thinking, he carefully placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, grinning at her. She glanced at him, and nodded her thanks, before they both turned back to the Doctor, Nick leaving his hand on her shoulder. Her shoulder felt oddly tingly, but she forced herself to concentrate on the body in front of her.

He finally finished the cut and moved the skin apart, and she found it, actually, less difficult to keep her cool than she thought. "Alright, first glance…doesn't look like there's water in the lungs, so she didn't drown…heart's in good condition…. No broken ribs, so there was no pressure on her lungs…" He trailed off, then reached for the hand saw to cut the ribs away.

"Alright, we'll be able to examine them more closely now…" He said, once he was finished, and reached inside with gloved hands, carefully removing the heart. "Dang, I don't got room…could you hold this for a second?" He held out the heart to Dani, who took it reluctantly in her gloved hands. She stared down at it for a moment, with the blood dripping down, and a lump rose in her throat.

"Nick? Do you mind…?" She held out the heart expectantly, but Doc took it back first, and she made a wild dash for the garbage, leaning over it, heaving up her lunch. Nick walked over, leaning down and putting one hand on her back gingerly, not wanting to startle her.

"Don't worry…happens to everyone…" He whispered while gently rubbing her back, to sooth her. She looked up at him for a moment, actually pretending that she was still sick for a moment longer and then stood up slowly, staring directly into his brown eyes for just a moment too long, before quickly looking down at her feet.

"I think I need some air…" She murmured, and pushed through the door without waiting for permission. Nick nodded absently, glancing at the doctor, who was grinning rather triumphantly.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at the doctor, who nodded slowly, his grin fading slightly when he saw Nick's disapproving look.

"Hey, she lasted past the initial cut, that's longer than most, I wanted to see how strong her stomach was…" He said defensively, then went back to the autopsy, but stopped as Grissom pushed into the room. "Right on time, we were just getting started."

Grissom looked around the room, then glanced at Nick, raising an eyebrow. "Where's Dani?" He asked, finally, then glanced towards the garbage can, and raised the eyebrow higher. "What did you do, Doc?" He asked, almost accusingly.

"I was testing how strong her stomach was!" He said again, although he'd obviously realized that he was fighting a losing battle. "She lasted past the initial cut though…gotta give her credit for that…"

"Yo Griss, can you handle this alone? I'm gonna go make sure she's ok.." Nick said, glancing at Grissom, and, once he received the nod of permission, he pushed through the doors, searching for Dani. He found her, sitting against the wall just outside the front door, her head resting on her knees, her shoulders shaking.

"Dani? Are you ok?" He asked, walking over and sitting next to her. She jumped when she heard his voice, and yanked her head up, showing that her face was wet with tears. She stared at him for a moment before speaking, her voice cracking a bit.

"I lost control…how could I lose control? I told myself I wouldn't…" She trailed off, trying to calm herself down, but succeeding only in making a sort of half-sob and burying her face in her hands again.

"Hey, hey, hey, come on…don't be so hard on yourself…" He said, patting her gently on the shoulder as she cried in disappointment and in shame. When she wouldn't look up, he gently took her chin with his hand turned her head so that she'd look right at him. "You did better than most…take it from me, I puked before the doctor had even finished the first cut…" She stared at him, blinking some cold tears out of her eyes. For about five seconds they just sat there, staring at each other, then she sniffled, pulling her face away and wiping her eyes quickly.

"Thanks…I appreciate that…" She said, rewarding his efforts with a small smile, which made him grin widely, but he quickly toned it down before he looked over-happy.

"No problem, any time…" He said, then stood up, holding out his hand to help her out, which she took, pulling herself up and wiping her eyes again. "Thank you…seriously…" She said, smiling a large smile, and started searching through her pockets for a tissue to wipe her eyes, but before she found one, Nick was holding one out to her, which she took gratefully, dabbing at her eyes and blowing her nose.

As she was finishing, she looked up, noticing a black Honda pulling into the parking lot, unfortunately bearing a license plate she recognized. "Crap…just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse…" She started to push Nick towards the door. "Come on, come on, let's go…" She said, her voice holding an edge of panic in it. Nick started towards the door, wondering what was going on, but before either of them got through the door, a loud car horn honked and a hoarse yell echoed through the air.

"Dani!! Dani, get over here, I wanna talk to you!!" Nick, glancing at Dani, he saw that she had both eyes clenched tightly closed, obviously wishing that whoever was the owner of that voice would just go away and never come back.

((CLIFFHANGER!! XD Yes, you shall find out who the person is in the NEXT Chapter….but not until then!! Thank you again to ALL my reviewers, you guys ROCK!!))


	8. The Attack

Chapter 8

She looked up at Nick, for a moment with a pleading look in her eyes, and then sighed, and pushed him towards the lab doors one last time, turning around to meet whoever was in the car.

"I'll meet you inside…" She muttered, and Nick, after a moment, pushed through the lab doors, but hesitated just inside, watching from a distance. He wanted to make sure the man exiting from the car wasn't going to hurt Dani. However, it appeared he really did just want to talk, as he seemed to be pleading with her, and she started yelling, gesturing wildly with both hands, obviously angry. The man had spiky brown hair, with blonde streaks, and was tall, much taller than Dani. Pretty muscular too, he could probably hurt Dani without much trouble if he wanted to.

Dani, glaring at her ex-boyfriend, Tom Sota, had lost control of her anger. "Just go home, Tom!! Go find Stacey or whatever the hell her name was!!" She then turned on her heel, apparently satisfied that the conversation was over. Tom, however, obviously had other ideas. He grabbed her arm, swinging her to face him, then slapped her hard, causing her to stumble back, holding one cheek, mouth gaping in shock.

Before she could recover enough to defend herself, he swung another strike, hitting her other cheek, twice as hard, causing her to stagger and fall down painfully. He straddled her, putting both hands on her throat, cutting off her air supply.

"You think you can talk to me like that, huh? You think you can do that, bitch??" She was gasping for air, struggling, trying to dislodge his hands from her throat, but he was much too strong. _I'm going to die…there's nobody out here to save me, I'm going to be strangled, and be just a body on the cold slab of the morgue…_

However, it appeared luck was with her, as Nick had just been turning around to head back to the autopsy when he heard the unmistakable sound of flesh connecting with flesh. He glanced back out the window to make sure Dani was alright, and gasped as he saw that guy throw her the ground. He quickly slammed open the door of the lab, racing over, and yanking the guy off roughly, eyes blazing.

"Hey!! What the hell do you think you're doing?? Get off her!!" Dani stayed on the ground, gasping as air flowed into her lungs. Tom glared at Nick, obviously quite annoyed at being interrupted in the middle of his rage.

"Get your hands off me, buddy, this doesn't concern you…" He said, his voice low with anger, his fists clenched, and he glanced at Dani, who was trying to struggle to her feet, her ribs hurting from where he'd put his knees. She didn't think they were fractured, but they were definitely bruised.

"Actually it does. Because, you see, one, you are assaulting an officer of the state, and two, you just attacked my co-worker and my friend for no reason." Nick said, his voice nearing a dangerous tone. "Now, get in your car, and get out of here before you've got a felony over your head."

Tom stared at him as if he were speaking Greek, then turned around, totally ignoring Nick, and swooped down, grabbing Dani by the arm and dragging her to her feet, opening the back door of his car. "Get in, Dani…" He said, and didn't want for an answer, just shoved her in the general area of the back seat. However, Dani obviously wasn't that dumb, and quickly pushed away, stumbling onto the pavement.

"Dani, I SAID get in the car!!" He started to lean down and grab his ex-girlfriend, but Nick had obviously had enough and grabbed him, dragging him a good five feet away from Dani.

"Look, buddy, leave her alone…" He said, letting his hands drop, knowing he couldn't fight him unless he attacked him. At least not while he was on the job, because the guy would obviously sue and get him fired, and he couldn't do that to the team.

Tom was obviously getting very annoyed at Nick, and could see Dani edging away from the car as fast as her bruised ribs allowed her to, and didn't want to risk her getting away. So he took a swing at Nick without warning, hitting him in the jaw, causing him to stagger, but he didn't lose his balance, bringing his hands up to protect himself like a professional boxer.

"Don't get me started man…" He said warningly, while his mind screamed in pain from his now bruised jaw. He blocked another blow aimed for his gut, hoping that someone would come out soon and be a witness that the guy was attacking him, not the other way around. Just as he was thinking this, the door flung open and out stormed a very angry-looking Grissom.

"What's going on here?" He yelled, and Dani opened her mouth to speak, but let out a hiss of air in pain as her bruised ribs protested. Nick started to pull back, assuming that Tom would know better than to keep attacking him, but was caught by surprise when he swung one last blow, hitting him square in the gut, causing him to double over as the air was knocked out of him.

Grissom quickly pulled the guy away before he could continue beating the defenseless Nick and produced handcuffs from his pocket, handcuffing his hands behind his back. "You are under arrest, for assault on an officer…" He said, and quickly handed him over to the police officer who had come running up, seeing the fight.

Dani staggered over to Nick, eyes wide as he took deep breaths in an attempt to get his breath back. "Are. You…" She had to take short breaths in-between words. "Ok. Nick?" She asked, her eyes wide with concern, but before he could answer, Grissom had intervened, looking at her with concern etched on his face.

"Dani, are you ok? What's wrong with your ribs, are they broken?" He asked, looking at her. She shook her head slowly, and took a deep breath, which was painful, but the pain seemed to be easing off a bit.

"I think…I'm…ok…I think they're just…bruised…" Nick, having finally regained his breath, stood up straight and carefully took her chin, turning her head so that he could see each cheek.

"You've got nasty bruises there…they are going to hurt…" He said, gently letting go, and she put one hand up, gently prodding her cheek, and winced. Grissom looked between the two of them, sensing that perhaps he'd missed something, but let it go for now.

"Come on, you two, you should see the Doc…he'll make sure you aren't badly hurt and fix you up." Grissom said, indicating the way towards the lab, but Dani was distracted. She was staring directly at Tom who was being taken away by the police into their squad car. Nick gently put one hand on her shoulder.

"It's over…he's gone…come on…" He said softly and she looked at him, sighing and nodding, starting towards the door, wincing with each step. He gently supported her, with no objections from her, as they made their way into the lab, and Grissom, watching, was quite curious how they seemed to already be that close…curious…very curious…was there really such things as soulmates? Nah…he was just imagining things…

-------------------------------half an hour later -----------------------------------------------------

The Doc had examined both of them, and decided that her ribs were fractured or broken, just bruised like she thought, but he did order her to go home early, which, after much protesting that she was fine, she agreed to sullenly.

Nick was walking with her to the parking lot, although the Doc had deemed him fine to stay at work. "Well…I guess I'll see you tomorrow…" He said awkwardly, rubbing his jaw a bit.

She nodded, smiling. "Thank you, Nick…I know I've already said it, but…you saved my life, how can I ever repay you?" He shrugged, his brown eyes meeting hers for a moment, before she opened up the door of her small blue Toyota and climbed in. Then, with a final wave, she was driving out of the parking lot, and headed right, and he watched her car until it was out of sight.

He ran one hand through his hair, letting out a breath of air. "Gotta keep it cool, Stokes…you don't even know her, there's no way this is what you think…" He then turned and head back inside, sighing.


	9. Vanished!

Chapter 9

At around nine o'clock that evening, the blue Toyota pulled into the parking lot again, and out climbed the by now familiar figure of Dani. Before she walked up to the door, she leaned down to take a look in the side mirror, wincing as she looked at the dark bruise on her left cheek. She'd tried to cover it up with make-up, but gave up after the third or fourth scoop, and decided it would be less embarrassing to just go with a large bruise then with a whole package of makeup on one cheek, which probably wouldn't cover it anyway.

She then walked in, trying to keep her head down and out of sight from the people walking in the halls. She really didn't want anyone's pity. There were also light bruises on her lower chest, but they were covered by the light blue sweater she was wearing, and she certainly wasn't gonna show anyone. She made her way into the break room, yawning, and pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Only five minutes later, the black SUV belonging to Nick pulled in right next to her car and he climbed out, glancing at the car with a weird sort of thump of his heart. _So she's already here… _He thought to himself, then took a deep breath, shaking his head, and running a hand through his hair absently. What was wrong with him, why couldn't he get her off his mind?

He walked into the building, yawning, rubbing his jaw absently, which was still sore from the night before. He walked towards the break room after signing in, glancing in before he actually walked in, trying to act casual. He grinned at Dani, then spoke to her while he was pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Hey, Dani, how are…" He trailed off as she looked up, revealing the dark bruise on her cheek. He winced, moving over to sit next to her on the couch. Seeing that he'd noticed, she quickly looked down at her coffee, her smile fading to an uncomfortable look. "Did you sleep well?" He asked, deciding the best way to keep her talking was to avoid the topic.

"Ya, as a matter of fact, I slept better than I have in ages…nothing like being scared for your life to conk you out at night…" She said, trying to make light of the situation, which in the end sounded rather pathetic, but he smiled and nodded. "So, did you get any farther on the case?" She asked, changing the subject abruptly.

He shook his head, sighing. "Grissom wants us to go back to the crime scene, but he wanted to wait until you'd come back, so we were finishing the autopsies. It looks like all of the victims were killed the same way…raped, then stabbed through the heart…" His voice held a bitter tone, which she picked up on, and she nodded.

"No semen?" She asked, and he shook his head, sighing. Yawning, he absently put one arm on the back of the couch behind her, which she pretended not to notice. She leaned back slightly, until her head rested against his arm, and they both sat in silent thought for a few minutes, until Danielle quickly stood up, looking down at him, eyes searching for some sort of answer, then she quickly looked away.

"We should go the clearing, if we're going…" She said, looking out the door and starting to walk out of it, which hid the slightly pink nature of her cheeks. _What just happened there? _She thought to herself, shaking her head and massaging her forehead for a moment, as if that would somehow straighten out her confusing emotions. "Are we taking Greg or Warrick with us again?" She turned to him, maintaining, with difficulty, an outward appearance of calm and stoic-ness…for the time being anyway.

He had, when she'd stood up, sort of woken up from a bit of a haze that had been, apparently, clouding up his judgement. Had he just been flirting with his co-worker? Definitely not a good thing, he'd have to be more careful. "Ya, we should go…uh, we'll take Warrick…" Warrick would help him keep his mind on track, and he'd tell him that what he was feeling wasn't what he thought…it was just…infatuation…not…love.

-----------------------------------45 minutes later----------------------------------

They were just pulling up to the clearing they'd parked in before, with Warrick and Nick sitting in the front, and Dani listening to her headphones in the back, to Nick's disappointment…_Relief!! It's good that she's not sitting next to you, because then you won't be distracted…why would I be distracted? Because she's gorgeous, has a great attitude, loves to talk about science…and…ok, this isn't working…_ He had tried, unsuccessfully, to talk to Warrick, but Warrick appeared to be in a rather unsociable mood, and just gave him short, one-word answers and before long they were both sitting in silence, except for the music that could be heard distantly from Dani's headphones.

Seeing that they were here, Dani switched off her Walkman, pulling the headphones out of her ears, and started to lean over and open the door, just like Warrick did, pulling off her seatbelt and climbing out. Nick, after a few seconds of collecting his thoughts, stepped out as well, moving towards the back of the Tahoe to grab the equipment, and soon they started walking up the trail, and before long they were at the clearing, which was still taped off and sectioned into squares.

Dani carefully put down her field kit and the large flashlight she'd been using to guide the others and herself up the trail. "We're going to need that spotlight thing in the Tahoe to light up this clearing…want me to go grab it and carry it up?" She asked, glancing at Nick, who thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright, but be careful carrying it up…there are a lot of roots and stuff sticking up, I wouldn't want you to…" He trailed off. _…hurt yourself…_ Was what he thought, but what he said was: "…break the light…" She seemed a little disappointed, but nodded and started back down the trail, shining her flashlight in front of her to make sure she didn't trip on anything.

After about ten minutes, she was at the bottom of the trail and opening the back of the Tahoe. As she reached inside for the huge, megawatt flashlight that also served as a spotlight, she accidentally knocked out a file containing the pictures of all of the girls. Cursing, she leaned down and picked them up, and looked at them for a moment. _Blonde hair, blue eyes, slim, medium height…_ She'd already figured out that it was a bio, but something else was occurring to her as she looked up at the side mirror at her own features. A little nervous, she quickly replaced the file and reached in again for the spotlight.

Unseen by her, there was another car parked in the shadows, blending in perfectly with the dark background of the forest. A silent figure crept up, crowbar sitting in his hand. _Aren't you pretty…such beautiful blonde hair…I came here to make sure you guys didn't find me, but you match the exact person I'm looking for…and you're all alone…so why not…? _From practice, he was approaching from directly behind her, his feet making no sound on the concrete. Just as she pulled out the large spotlight he attacked, whacking her squarely over the head, knocking her out before she even got a chance to attack. She fell to the ground hard, a bit of blood dripping onto the ground, then was scooped up bridal style and carried to the unknown car, her wrists, ankles and mouth duct-taped. Shoved in the back seat, the car then took off, leaving a shattered spotlight, a trail of blood leading to where his car had been, and the open Tahoe.

--------------------------------Half an hour later -----------------------------------

Nick glanced at his watch for the fifth time in the last minute. What was taking Dani with the light? Warrick and him had started without her, using their flashlights, and at first he was just annoyed when Dani didn't come back right away. Warrick figured she'd just taken the time alone to listen to her Walkman again. However, as time continued to crawl on, and still no Dani, Nick began to get very worried. It didn't seem like Dani to make them wait this long on purpose.

"Hey Warrick? You think we should go make sure Dani's ok? She might have tripped on a root or something and sprained her ankle…" He said, trying to sound nonchalant. Warrick glanced at him from across the clearing, and shrugged. He hated waiting for people, so Dani had just served to put him in a lousy mood. She better have been knocked unconscious…

"I guess so…" He said when Nick continued to watch him for a response. "We can't do much more without the light anyway, so let's go…" He could sort of sense that Nick felt more than a little concerned for the pretty new intern, but didn't voice his thoughts out loud, deciding that if Nick needed advice, he'd tell him on his own.

"Ya, let's just leave the stuff here, we'll be back in not too long anyway." He said, and started down the path without waiting for a reply. Warrick sighed, put down his kit, and followed. As they went along the path, Nick grew steadily and steadily more uneasy as no sign of Dani was seen. Even Warrick started feeling a bit worried when they were almost at the end of the path.

"This is weird, man…I mean, did she just climb in the Tahoe and drive off or something?" He said, but Nick didn't even bother answering as he rounded the corner, and the Tahoe came into sight, the trunk wide open. He moved over to the back and stopped, his eyes widening as he took in what sat around. The smashed light, the blood on the ground…Dani's? Not good, not good, not good.

Nick quickly flipped open his cell phone, dialing in Dani's cell phone number, and jumped when he heard it ringing from right next to him. He leaned down, and as he looked under the car, he found it sitting where it had landed. Damn. Warrick looked at the scene, raising an eyebrow.

"We gotta call Grissom…we've got another crime scene…" Nick said as he stood up again, his voice strong, but inwardly he was shaking like a leaf. Was it too late? Had he missed his chance?

((Yes, another chapter...and a PLOT TWISTY!!! Hopefully you guys don't find it too weird or too dramatic or too...whatever...if you do, please review and tell me, but no flaming, please? Constructive critism...Anyway, Chapter 10 will be up in not too long...))


	10. The Clock is Ticking

Chapter 10

For the half an hour that it took for Grissom and Catherine to get there, Nick started examining the crime scene, and he followed the droplets of blood, making sure to not step on them. He knelt down where the drops ended abruptly, examining the impression in the leaves. "There was a car here…" He said out loud, causing Warrick to look up from where he was crouching by the trunk of the car.

"Looking at the blood in comparison to where the light is…looks like she was hit from behind… and dropped it…" Warrick trailed off, he could see the rage that was building up behind Nick's eyes. _The bastard attacked her when she wasn't looking…the coward…_ Nick was fuming, but knew if he didn't keep his emotions in check, he'd be off this case faster than he could blink.

"If he hit her hard enough, she wouldn't have had a chance to defend herself…" Nick said bitterly, turning back to the impression on the ground, hoping he'd find some car tracks, and, it turned out he was lucky. There was some clear tire tracks on the ground, which he started snapping pictures of. He had charged all the ways back up the trail and grabbed all the equipment, everything but Dani pushed to the back of his mind.

Every time he stopped examining the crime scene, the image of Dani's dead, cold body filtered into his mind, her blue eyes staring up at him…lifeless…As soon as that image filled his head, the rest of him compensated by filling himself with rage. As this thought entered his head, up pulled another SUV, and out stepped Grissom and Catherine, both of them carrying their field kits.

"What's going on, Nick? Where's Dani?" Nick hadn't given much information over the phone, and he'd thought that he'd heard a slight edge of panic in his voice, so he hadn't pressed him. Warrick glanced at Nick before answering him.

"She's gone…this is our crime scene…" He said, and Nick nodded, his eyes wide, as if he expected Grissom to tell him that she was fine, that she wasn't kidnapped, possibly being raped and murdered as they spoke.

"What do you mean, she's gone?" Catherine said, looking between them for an answer, and by Nick's face, she guessed. "You mean she was kidnapped? What was she doing alone?" She was putting them on a guilt trip, and she knew it, because they deserved it. Sending the new intern down to the truck on her own, when they were at the scene of a murder. Warrick definitely should know better, and Nick as well.

Neither of them answered, just looked down at the ground uncomfortably, and then Nick continued examining the scene. "Her cell phone's on the ground here…it obviously fell when she was…attacked." Nick's voice held strong bitterness that even Catherine picked up on, but nobody seemed eager to comment. "There's a blood trail leading over there, where there's an impression in the leaves, indicating that there was a car there. There's also tire treads, I've taken pictures, I was going to make a cast when you two showed up."

Grissom nodded, and pulled out his flashlight, looking around. "Trunk open…smashed light…she was in the middle of getting equipment, probably had her arms full and not even looking behind her…this was a cowardly attack." Grissom said, voicing what Nick and Warrick had already concluded. He picked up the folder, looking at the top picture, and then looked at the other two, putting two and two together. "She matched the bio."

All three of the other CSIs made the connection, staring at him. Nick cursed, slamming his hand against the SUV in anger. "I should've remembered!! I shouldn't have let her go alone!!" He kicked the tire angrily, ready to hurt someone. Not just someone, but the pyscho who had killed those three girls, and had kidnapped Dani.

Warrick quickly glanced at Catherine, who walked over and put a soothing hand on Nick's shoulder. "Calm down…it's not your fault, and if you don't keep a calm head, we won't find her in time…" This, if nothing else, calmed him down, and he straightened his back and turned to the others.

He walked over to the tire treads and started taking more pictures without another word. The other three glanced at each other for a moment, then started. Grissom went to the blood trail, and took a bunch of pictures, trying to figure out how she was carried. "These are gravitational drops…so she was carried, not dragged…" He said out loud, without looking up. "So, this guy, whoever he may be, knocks her out, then scoops her up from the ground and carries her over to his car…and he might have gotten scraped by the glass that would have obviously been on the ground…"

Catherine was standing near the open trunk of the car, looking around, trying to visualize what might have taken place. "Well, there's a blood stain on the edge of the trunk…so she must have hit her head again on the way down…" She took a swab after taking the picture, then paused, leaning closer. "Hold the phone guys…I've got something here…" She said, shining her flashlight on the latch of the trunk, where a slight shred of clothing was visible.

Grissom, Nick and Warrick all looked up to see what she had. "Looked like someone wasn't being very careful with his clothes…think we'll get some skin samples off of this?" She looked up at the others, and Grissom seemed to ponder for a second before nodding.

"Possibly…we'll take it to Greg…" Then they all turned back to what they were doing, all hoping that they'd find something useful.

------------------------------Same time, somewhere else-------------------------------------------

Dani awoke some time later, her head aching like a million hammers all hitting her head at once. She forced her eyes open, not that it made much difference. It was just as dark with her eyes open as closed. For one panicked moment, she thought she had been blinded by the hit on her head, and then a light came from behind her, and the sound of a door opening. She tried to turn around, only to discover that she was handcuffed to a chair, and her ankles were duct-taped to the legs.

She tried to talk, then realized there was duct-tape on her mouth as well, and at this, a memory of a conversation with Nick only a day or so ago came to her.

_"There's adhesive residue on her wrists." She said, pointing, and, after pulling on some gloves, kneeling and lifting up the other wrist, which showed the same thing. Nick nodded, smiling at her. "You're right…can you get me a swab, please?" She nodded, carefully putting the wrist down and fishing into her kit for a moment, then handing it to him. "Thanks. Al right, so it looks as if she had her wrists duct-taped…" He trailed off, glancing up at her face. "And her mouth…" He took another sample of adhesive residue from her mouth area._

So she was the next victim…how had she not seen that coming? She matched the bio of the victims perfectly. Blonde hair, blue eyes, medium height, slim…she was now very afraid. All the victims had been raped, then stabbed through the heart…was she next? In fear, she started to pull at the handcuffs on her wrists, even as she knew there was no way she'd pull it loose.

"Why hello, hello there, little miss Danielle Ryan from Toronto, Canada." Came a voice from behind her, cold and he sounded like he was enjoying himself. Enjoying scaring her out of her wits. "That's right, I know who you are…I know you, I know you're family…I even know who your ex-boyfriend is…I did a lot of research when you guys started investigating those other girls. I saw you investigating, and I saw you're blonde hair…you're blue eyes…and I realized that you were next, little Dani." The nickname, normally pleasant sounding, sounded disgusting coming from him.

She tried to turn around, to see who was tormenting her, but as hard as she tried, all she did was nearly tip the chair over. He laughed at her pathetic attempts to escape, then moved in front of her, so she could see him, and as the face emerged, she recognized him, and had the duct-tape not been in the way, she would have screamed.

((And….DONE!!! I'm still deciding who the criminal is going to be, but don't worry, you'll find out soon enough…Thanks to my reviewers, especially Cabby  I trust you'll be picking it apart again, and I'll appreciate it.))


	11. The Kidnapper is found

Chapter 11

Morning. People went off on their normal jobs, walking or driving down the street, happy, care-free, unaware that somewhere in Vegas there was an innocent woman being held captive…who'd been raped, and then left alone in the dark, and only now was beginning to see light again. There was a tiny, almost non-existent window at the top of the wall, which let in just enough light for her to see by.

She was no longer attached to a chair, but her wrists were still handcuffed and her ankles were now re-duct-taped together. She had crawled into the corner once he'd left and just sort of curled up into a ball, trying to wish it away, even as she knew it was real, and there was nothing, at the moment, that she could do about it.

The sunlight that came into the room sort of broke into her haze of despair, as she realised that she was not alone. Nick and Warrick would be looking for her…Nick would find her…he had to…She gulped, bringing her mind back to the problem at hand. Her clothes were twisted and her shirt was ripped at the shoulder, close to exposing her chest area. She struggled to a sitting position, then, using the wall for support; she pulled her wrists down past her legs and in front of her. ((A/N: Yes, it is possible, I made sure…)) She cried out as the stab would from the night before protested. She was lucky, it had missed her heart, landing the blow in her shoulder, but, as she could see now that she looked at it, she was still losing blood pretty fast. If that wasn't treated soon, she'd bleed out.

She stood up, her whole body aching. She had scratches on her face, which had stopped bleeding, but were probably infected from the filth that she had been lying in. She felt dirty, and disgusting, especially after what he had done to her. She wanted to kill herself. Instead, she moved over to the spot of light on the floor, letting it slowly warm up her skin, trying to bring herself hope. However, as her mind cleared, she remembered what Nick had told her, back in the break room…had it only been the night before?

"…_It looks like all of the victims were killed the same way…raped, then stabbed through the heart…" _That's what Nick had said…that all the victim's had been killed the same way…that meant she already knew what this sicko was planning for her. She'd recognised him, from, if you can believe it, back in Toronto. He'd been a suspect in a rape and murder, and although they hadn't gotten enough evidence to convict, she'd always had a sneaking suspicion that he…he had killed that girl…and now he had killed three more…his name was Trent Ricardo.

Dani felt the hope drain out of her. He hadn't left any evidence back in Toronto…what was the likelihood that he'd left any now? She sighed, closing her eyes and clenching her fists. Her wrists were cut from when she'd been pulling on the handcuffs, trying to get away…trying to get away from his hands…She whipped open her eyes, knowing that she couldn't think about that. She had to get away…somehow…The door was locked, but was there no other way?

-------------------------------------------Back at the Lab-------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick was pacing around the break room, waiting for Greg to finally be done with the shred of clothing they had found. He was exhausted, but when Catherine had half-heartedly suggested that they go home and get some rest, he'd just given her a hard look and she'd backed down and shut up. Dani could be being raped and murdered as they were pacing here, and she was suggesting that they go HOME?? _Keep emotions in check…keep emotions in check…you're already skating on thin ice…_

Finally Greg walked in, and, judging by the look on his face, they'd gotten something. "We got something." He said triumphantly, holding up the printout. "You're lucky though. Although I wasn't able to get any skin epithelial off of the fabric, it turns out your guy got a little sweaty attacking innocent females. I was able to get a sample off of the fabric, and I matched it to a guy. Trent Ricardo. His DNA was taken from when he was a suspect from a rape and murder in Toronto." Greg was looking quite pleased with himself.

"So, where is he now?" Catherine asked before Nick could open his mouth. "If he's still in Toronto, we're at a dead end…" Nick nodded, glancing at Greg, who grinned again.

"I was getting to that. Turns out that as soon as he was cleared, he sold his place in Canada, and moved down here. He wasn't even a Canadian citizen, and he apparently has a place downtown…" Greg trailed off, looking between them. "Guess you need the address…" He held out a piece of paper, which Nick snatched and walked out, heading towards the Tahoe, closely followed by Catherine.

"Nick, we can't arrest, him so…stay calm or he'll be walking before we can even blink…" She reminded him quietly, and he nodded curtly, climbing into the driver's seat and waiting for Catherine to climb in. Nick, through sheer willpower, kept under the speed limit as they drove to the address that Greg had written down for them.

---------------------------------------Ricardo's registered address---------------------------------------------------------

Catherine and Nick knocked on the door, which was opened by a younger man, with dark black hair and tanned skin, Latino looking. "Can I help you?" He spoke with a Spanish-tinged voice, but it was barely noticeable. He had obviously been away from the Latin community for quite a while.

"Trent Ricardo?" Catherine asked, even as she knew the answer. When he nodded, Nick spoke up, it's 'Nice guy from Texas' twang fully in play. "We need to ask you a few questions, if you could come with us?" Nick's ears were strained for any sound from within of a damsel in distress, namely Danielle Ryan. Trent looked at the two of them, then shrugged.

"Fine by me." He reached for the keys, and locked the door behind him as he exited with them, and they drove to the police station with him sitting serenely in the back, apparently totally unaffected by the fact that he was being taken to the police station.

-------------------------------------Again…back at the lab…interrogation room…-------------------------------------

Grissom, Brass and Catherine were standing in the interrogation room, and Nick was watching through the two-way mirror. He had wanted to ask questions, but had wisely been convinced to just watch for this time. He was always on the edge, it seemed, and if he lost it with a suspect, he'd have a lawyer over his head. So he was reduced to pacing in front of the mirror, watching as the guy tried to talk his way out of an arrest.

"Look, I don't know how a piece of my shirt got on her car…maybe someone I know got into my stuff, or my dry-cleaners…" He shrugged, but felt a little uncomfortable.

"Now, normally, if we had a doubt it was anyone but you who had last worn that shirt, we wouldn't have even bothered bringing you in. However…we found your DNA on the shirt. Now, if someone else had been wearing that shirt, it would have been covered up with their DNA. Can you explain that?" Trent's face went a semi-shade paler, and Nick knew. He'd been caught.

"I…I…" He stammered, but Catherine cut him off shortly. "Save it…now where is she? Did you add her to your list of victims, or is she still alive somewhere…waiting for you to come finish her off…?" He remained silent, with a sort of smug look on his face, which made Nick want to rip his face off. They'd caught him, but it might be too late for Dani. She could already be dead or dying while this bastard wasted their time.

((And…I guess…I'm done…I know, it's really, really, really short, but I wanted to leave you guys in suspense a bit longer XD Don't worry, I'll post the next chapter really soon…))


	12. Is it too late?

Chapter 12

Dani had long ago lost the energy to continue kicking, tackling or banging on the door in an futile attempt to break it down. She had crawled into the small spot of sunlight left shining through the window, lying so that her face was bathed in it, while rather depressing thoughts ran through her head, intermittently mixed with hopeful ones.

_This might be the last ray of sunlight I ever see…or I might get a tan going to a beach with Nick next summer, when he comes to find me…if he comes to find me..._ She was sure that any moment, Mr. Ricardo would be back to kill her, and then the agony would be over. She had long since gone numb to the throbbing pain in her shoulder, which was still slowly oozing blood. She had tried everything to stop the constant flow, but nothing she did worked…she'd slowed the flow however, so there was still hope that someone found her before she died from blood loss.

She had managed to concentrate her thoughts long enough to approximate when she'd lose consciousness from blood loss, and that time was soon approaching. An hour or so maybe…she looked up through the window in the wall, where the sunlight had turned reddish as the sun set somewhere out of sight. She could vaguely see the stars that slowly appeared. As beautiful as they were, they could not dispel the fear that slowly crept into her heart as the light faded.

Slowly her eyes closed, as hard as she tried to stay awake. For even as she knew that if she slept, she may not awaken again, her eyes slowly closed, blocking out the stars, as she sunk into oblivion, possibly never to awaken again…

----------------At the lab, a few hours earlier------------

Although they'd tried to pry the answer out of Ricardo, he'd refused to say anything else, just sat, staring at them stonily. Nick had practically ambushed Brass when he'd walked by. "Tell me we got a warrant for everything he owns…" He pleaded and when Brass nodded, he breathed a sigh of relief and tried to grab the paper out of Brass' hand. Brass pulled back, however, and continued talking.

"We already know she's not at his house, so you're just looking for any records. Maybe he owns a warehouse or something? Now be careful…" Only after those words of wisdom did he finally give Nick the warrant, and Nick dashed off, grabbing Catherine on his way by, causing her to nearly choke on her coffee.

When they were in the car, Catherine didn't even dare ask Nick any questions. The built-up anxiety was threatening to transform itself into rage any minute, and whoever triggered it…well, she felt sorry for them. His knuckles were white on the wheels, and although he kept under the speed limit, his turns were rather sharp, causing her to nearly bang her head on the window more than once.

Finally, they arrived at the house and Nick was out of the car before Catherine had even undone her seatbelt. He had, somehow, obtained keys to the door, and she decided it was better not to ask how and within five minutes they were inside.

Nick unpacked his field kit up in what was obviously Ricardo's bedroom, every fiber of his being bent on finding something…anything…that would lead them to Dani. It wasn't just because she was his co-worker and his friend…it was because he had finally realized he cared for her. What was the saying? Absence makes the heart grow fonder? Well, that was definitely the case here. And if he didn't move his ass, it might be too late…

Catherine was downstairs in the kitchen, searching through the papers on the table, hoping that one of them would point them in the right direction. She had been about to exit the kitchen when something caught her eye beneath the table, next to the recycle box, which had recently been emptied. Kneeling down, she carefully picked it up with tweezers, and read it quietly, eyes first widening and then her face splitting into a wide grin. Wow, twenty minutes and already she'd found what she was looking for. It had to be a record.

"Nick! Nick, I think I found it!" She yelled up the stairs, and was rewarded with pounding footsteps, and an anxious face at the bottom of the stairs. "Ricardo owns a old house out in the desert, reportedly hasn't used it for years…but it's definitely prime real estate for harboring a hostage." Nick split into a wide grin and snatched the paper from her hand, reading the address.

"Let's call the paramedics and get our asses down there." He said, and was out the door, not even bothering to grab his field kit from upstairs, which Catherine got for him, understanding his anxiety. For all they knew Dani was already dead or dying, and they needed to get her help as soon as possible.

---------------------The House----------------------------

Every sense in his body was heightened, his eyes picking up just the slightest bit of movement, his ears the tiniest of sounds. He had his gun out, pointed at the ground, while he waited impatiently for Brass and his team to get there. The ambulance was on it's way too, in case this was the right place. Finally, after what seemed like eternity, but was really only about ten minutes, Brass pulled up in his van, backed-up by two of his best police officers.

"Let's go…" He said, and he pushed open the door, which was broken down and in disrepair, and nearly fell over just by the light pressure. "Dani!" He called out, praying for some sort of response. He didn't get any. "DANI!!"

He flung open every door on the one side of the hall, while Brass did the other, with Catherine and the other two police officers following behind them. "Here Nick!" Brass called from a few doors ahead and indicated the open door leading to the basement.

Nick started down the stairs as slowly as he could manage, and carefully pushed open the door at the bottom, revealing a quiet basement. At first glance, it almost seemed normal, but as soon as a flashlight was entered into it, the blood spatter and trails all around the floor and wall became apparent. Nick nearly threw procedure to the winds as he saw the slumped body in the corner, familiar blonde hair stained with blood…

"No…" He said hoarsely, and Brass pushed past him, careful not to step on any of the blood, assuming that this was already a homicide investigation. Nick wouldn't accept that though. He pushed into the room, his gun shoved back into it's holster, and he was at Dani's side, reaching for her wrist, praying…for a second chance…and he yelled in triumph as he felt the weak beat that pushed against his fingertips. "She's alive! We need paramedics down here, NOW!!"

As Catherine hastened up the stairs to get the paramedics, Nick carefully pulled Dani out of her curled up position, stretching her out on the floor, her head on his lap. "Dani? Come on, Dani, don't you dare leave me now…do you hear me, that's an order, you stay with us!" He was speaking softly, as he pressed his hands against the wound on her shoulder, his strong hands stemming the flow of blood.

Before he could receive any response from Dani…not that he was expecting one…the paramedics had arrived, lifting her carefully onto the stretcher, leaving Nick sitting on the floor, stained with blood, but with the paramedic's whispered comments to each other swirling through his head.

"She's lost a lot of blood…you think she's gonna make it?"

"I don't know…" The uncertainty in that last voice had nearly caused Nick to just curl up and weep, but he didn't. He stood up, looking around the room at Brass and Catherine, who were staring at him with a look not unlike pity in their eyes.

"Let's get started…we've got a scene to process…" He said, masking all trace of emotion in his voice. Dani would live…because she had to…because if she didn't, he would lose his chance forever…

((Dun dun dun…hope that's good enough for you guys, Thanks to all my reviewers, you guys ROCK!!! Chapter 13 will be up soon!!))


	13. Shyness Reigns Supreme

((Sorry It took me so long to update, I've been on vacation...))

Chapter 13

Nick was on edge. Grissom would call when they knew if she would make it, and he couldn't know until then. He had to concentrate on processing the scene, which he did, as well as he was able. There was blood everywhere, obviously Dani had been trying to get out of her prison for a while. The majority was where she'd been lying, but there was also some on the wall, on the inside of the door, and on a long line of blood around the floor, criss-crossing back and forth, pools of bloods in various spots where she'd stopped to rest.

It was still wet and sticky, and it was beginning to smell awful, but Nick, for once, barely noticed. It didn't matter. All that mattered, was getting solid evidence that Trent Ricardo was here…of course, if Nick knew Dani, she would have fought back, so there would be skin epithelial underneath her nails…he'd have to get a sample from her. From her, when he could go see her in the hospital, of course.

They found out not long into the processing that there really was very little that they could do, other than take swabs of the blood, to make sure it was all Dani's blood. After all, looking at Dani's nails, he wouldn't have been surprised if they drew blood from Ricardo. Suddenly, the blue light lit up on something that was obviously not blood.

"Bingo!" He said softly, and carefully swabbed the sample of what looked like semen. Catherine looked up at him from where she was examining the other wall. "Definitely got something here, Cath…that bastard is going to be put behind bars for a long time…"

Catherine nodded as she stood up, walking over. "Go on, Sara's on her way over…bring that to the lab…" He sent her a grateful look, popping closed the lid on the sample and standing up, heading towards the door, nearly banging into Sara on her way in.

"Hey Sar, look, I'll see both of you later, I'm gonna head to the hospital…see if I can get some samples from under her nails if I can…" He lied almost smoothly, and was out the door before either of the other two could reply. They both looked at each other with raised eyebrows, and had the situation been less stressful, they would have both smirked.

----------------------------------At the Hospital-------------------------------------------------------

Nick pulled into the hospital fifteen minutes later, feeling much less stressed, and more of his mind now on the case. On his way down, he'd received the phone call, saying that Dani would be fine, and that she was now sleeping. She was lucky, she'd lost a lot of a blood, but she had will to live it seemed. He couldn't agree more; if there was anyone who had strong will, it was Dani.

He closed the driver's door and locked his car, strolling into the hospital. He was just going to see if Dani was awake, and if she was he was going to get the samples from under her skin. Just in case the DNA in the semen was un-useable. He had to cover all angles, just in case. He was taking no chances when it came to this creep. Trent Ricardo had made it personal, and he wasn't getting away with it.

Yawning, he stretched his arms above his head as he entered the hospital and walked over to the receptionist desk, asking where her room was. He was glad when he wasn't directed to the ICU, even though he already knew Dani was going to be alright. He just didn't like the ICU, seeing all those sick people…it was worse than dead people, because they were still suffering, while dead people were usually at peace.

When he found her room, he saw that the door was slightly ajar. He carefully pushed it open, hardly daring to breathe in case he awoke the sleeping figure curled up in the bed. She had had to have a blood transfusion, a large one, and she was lucky, since she had a very common blood type. Right now she looked peaceful, eyes closed, and steadily breathing.

He carefully picked up a chair and carried it over to the side of the bed, smiling softly at her. Her body looked so tiny and vulnerable in the large hospital bed, and he felt that it was a poor representation of the tough, fighter spirit that it housed. He sat down and just watched her quietly for a few moments, then remembered that he'd come for a purpose. Not wanting to wake her, but knowing that time was of the essence, he reached for her hand, which lay lightly on the bed. He gently picked it up, marvelling at how soft it was, and reached for a swab, looking under her fingernails. It looked promising.

Glancing at Dani, he made sure she was asleep, then carefully ran the swab under each fingernail in turn, placing the hand back where it had been. Now, the other hand wasn't so easy to get to, as it was lying under the side of her head on the pillow. He thought for a moment as he put the swab into the evidence envelope, unsure how he was going to get past that dilemma.

He bent down to place the envelope inside his field kit, and then looked back up, and nearly had a heart attack as he saw Dani's bright blue eyes watching him, blinking slowly. Recovering from his surprise, he smiled. "Good morning, sunshine." He said sweetly, and she smiled softly, starting to push herself to a sitting position, wincing slightly as her shoulder protested. He took her pillow, resting it against the headboard and helped her rest her back against it.

"Thanks…" She murmured quietly, looking at him, eyes burning with questions, but she forced herself to deal with what she knew was important. "I know who it was, Nick, I know his name. Trent Ricardo. He was wanted for a homicide back in Toronto, but he slipped through our fingers." She stopped as she saw that Nick was nodding happily and looked ready to dance around and hug her.

"Dani, you are wonderful, that is just what I needed to know. We now have solid proof that can keep that bastard arrested for a long time. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets the death penalty." He said, smiling widely, and she smiled back, then remembered something, looking down at her hands uncomfortably.

"Nick…did you ask the doctors if they did a…" She cleared her throat uncomfortably before continuing. "A…rape kit?" She stared down at her hands, a solitary tear streaking her cheek and he carefully wiped it away with his thumb, then left it there, stroking her cheek.

"I don't know if they did, Dani, but I'll go ask right now…" He said gently, and stood up, walking to the door, nearly banging into the female doctor on her way in. She looked at him, raising an eyebrow, probably wondering who the hell he was. She then turned and walked towards Danielle, who looked up at the footsteps and cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"Good morning, Miss. Ryan, glad to see that you're awake." She said, smiling, and Nick shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably, then leaned against the wall, seeing that Dani, who kept glancing over to reassure herself he was still there, wanted some moral support.

"Hello, Dr. Robbins…um…I was asking if you…um…could get me a birth control pill? I'd also like an…um…rape kit done…" She was obviously uncomfortable speaking about this, but the brunette doctor nodded sympathetically.

"Of course, dear…you've been through quite a traumatic experience, and I think you should rest…but I'll go get the pill for you, and I'll do the examination in a few minutes, alright?" When Dani nodded, the doctor smiled and left, glancing at Nick again, still wondering who he was. Nick, once the doctor had left, moved over to the bed again, carefully took Dani's hand, everything he wanted to say getting stuck in his throat, so that he just sat there in silence.

Before either of them could break the silence, the doctor had returned with a pill for Dani. Remembering that he was expected back at the lab soon, he carefully took the samples from Dani's other hand, and left quietly, promising that he would be back to visit as soon as he could. She watched him all the way out of the room, although he didn't turn around, as much as he wanted to. Something inside him was telling him that it wasn't the right time…not the right time at all…and maybe he really didn't feel that way, it could have just been concern for his friend, nothing more…

Sighing, he climbed into his car with the evidence envelopes and headed towards the lab, massaging his forehead with one hand. He was extremely stressed, but at least they had enough evidence to arrest Trent Ricardo, and Dani was safe and sound.

Back at the lab, he was ambushed by Greg and Warrick, who wanted to know how Dani was. Warrick was feeling incredibly guilty, since he had really not been at all thinking that night, and was sure that he shouldn't have let Dani go off alone. They were both relieved to hear that she was fine, and that she would be out of the hospital in a few days, maybe less.

Shoving Greg the samples, and finally managing to ditch the lab-rat, he followed Warrick to the evidence room, where they made sure they had covered everything. By the time they were finished, Greg had found them, showing them that the samples from under Dani's fingernails and the semen matched Trent Ricardo. Also, they learned from Grissom that the acid used on the third body had been found in the back of Ricardo's car, and Nick and Warrick exchanged high-fives, in high spirits, but also exhausted.

None of the team had slept in at least 48 hours, and had been living on coffee and other caffeine enriched products for the majority of that time. So Grissom forced them all to go home, saying that the case was solved, and they could all relax. Greg and Warrick said they were going to go visit Dani, and although they invited everyone to come, Catherine and Sara were just too exhausted, and Grissom said he had to catch up on some paperwork. Nick, although he'd been planning on going to visit on his own anyway, followed the others to the hospital.

As they were walking past the hospital store, he paused, remembering that Dani had said at one point, in passing, that she absolutely adored gummy bears. Seeing that the store was selling large tubs of them, he slipped in and bought one for her, hiding it under his coat and catching up with Greg and Warrick just as they were about to enter her room.

She was lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling and turned her head slightly when the door opened, smiling when she saw who it was. "Hey guys! What are you doing here?" She asked, sitting up, using her uninjured arm to push herself up almost painlessly.

"We came to visit you, of course!" Greg said, ruffling her blonde hair with his hand for no real reason, grinning. "Our favourite intern's stuck in the hospital, and you think we wouldn't come visit her?" She smiled widely, obviously having not expected this at all.

"Yeah, girl, you gave us a real scare there, and we're glad you're ok." Warrick said, taking a seat at the end of the bed, leaving Nick with the side of the bed closest to the window. "Oh, and Nick bought you something at the store, but I dunno what it is." Warrick said, which made Nick whack him upside the head lightly.

"Way to ruin the surprise, Brown." He said, but grinned as he pulled out the tub of gummy bears and handed it to her, provoking a very over-girlish squeal out of Dani, who reached forward and took it, popping it open and pulled out a couple gummy bears, popping them into her mouth.

"How did you know?" She asked, once she'd swallowed them, and both Warrick and Greg looked at Nick, who shrugged nonchalantly.

"I dunno…I thought you'd said you liked them at some point…" He said absently, looking down at his hands uncomfortably. After about half an hour of visiting, in which Dani, with the help of the other three, managed to devour at least half of the gummy bears, they decided they had better go get some rest. They promised that they'd come visit again, and left, waving, and Nick could see that that little visit, along with the gummy bears, had cheered Dani up immensely.

-------------------------------------------Two days later-----------------------------------------------

After only two days in the hospital, the doctors finally deemed Dani fit to go home, although they made her swear not to work for at least a week. She had agreed sullenly, and was offered a drive home by Sara. The two had become very close, discovering that they had a lot in common, and the two of them and Catherine had spent the good part of three hours giggling and talking about girly stuff in the hospital room.

Nick had still not told her how he felt about her. Whenever he made up his mind to, he'd go to talk to her and all his resolve would turn into mush, and he'd end up stammering some excuse so that he wouldn't look like an idiot in front of her. So it was that Dani still didn't have a clue, and basically everyone else in the lab knew about how he felt about her. At least, he was pretty sure they did. Nobody had asked him directly, of course, but he still had a feeling.

Less well known were Dani's feelings for Nick. In fact, the only people who even had suspicions were Catherine and Sara, and even they had their doubts. Mostly because Dani was able to talk and act normally in front of Nick. Sara, after dropping her off, watched as Dani walked in, then waved from her front door. Sara had to go to work, or she might have stayed to make sure she was alright. Honking her horn once, she drove off down the street, heading towards the crime lab, thinking.

_Is there something there at all or am I imagining things? Nick, I know, he's so obvious about it, but Dani…I'm sure I saw something in her eyes the last time I saw them together, but was that what it was? _Sara sighed as she pulled into the parking lot of the crime lab, tapping her fingernails against the steering wheel, wondering…

What if…?

((This may be the end of this story, ladies and gentlemen…or I may add more…I'm not sure yet…if you want to hear more about Dani and Nick, you can read my other story, which also has lots of flashbacks, which sort of fills in the blanks…but I'm gonna need a heck of a lot of people asking me to write more if you want me to…anyway, see you all later! You guys all rock!))


	14. Salvation from Blobness

Chapter 14

It hadn't taken long for Dani to become incredibly bored with staying home. In fact, since she couldn't go back to work, no matter how hard she tried to convince Grissom, she soon just gave up and became a blob on her couch. For the first few days, she'd forced herself to get out of bed and go outside, even if it was only for a walk around the block. Now, she couldn't muster up the mental energy to force herself even to get dressed, never mind go for a walk. So it was that, three mornings after being dismissed from the hospital, she was found asleep on the couch, blonde hair tangled and messy, and the soap opera network playing on the T.V in the background. She was having a very pleasant dream that suspiciously involved her, Nick and a bouquet of red roses.

The annoying buzz of her doorbell woke her abruptly out of slumber, and shattered the image like crystal. With a groan, she called out from her pillow, her voice muffled. "Who is it and what do you want?" After a moment's silence, a concerned voice answered.

"Dani? It's Nick…can I come in?" Nick had come with a plan, as he had overheard Sara and Catherine talking about how lethargic Dani had become over the past few days. They said that she wouldn't leave her house, and Nick had come to change that. Blinking sleepily, Dani finally pulled herself off her couch, pajamas and all, and stumbled over to the door, pulling back the chain and opening it, eyes squinting as the sun hit them.

Nick blinked, staring at her, then grinned at her. "Well, don't you look like a barrel of sunshine." He said teasingly and she gave him a half-glare before moving back to let him come inside, which he did. Closing the door, she watched him, sleepy brain trying to process what he was doing here, and whether or not she was still dreaming. Blinking sleepily, she proceeded to climb back onto her couch, stretched out, indicating a chair for him to sit on if he wished.

"May I ask what you're doing here?" She finally asked, watching him from a half-closed eye and he grinned mischievously, which made her very nervous. "What are you planning? Whatever it is, leave me out of it, I don't want to do anything but sleep…"

"That is exactly the problem, Dani…now up and at 'em, you're going out and greeting the sunshine." When she didn't move, he frowned and stood up, standing over her with a disapproving look on his face, and she looked up at him before rolling over onto her stomach and burrowing farther into her pillow, muttering something about being too tired. He gave an exasperated sigh, watching her, having not exactly expected this much resistance. After a few more moments pondering, he came to a decision and suddenly he reached down, sliding his arms around her waist and hoisted her up and over his shoulder, gripping the back of her knees to keep her from slipping onto the floor.

"Hey, put me down!" She said, and started smacking his back with her fists, although not hard enough to really hurt. He grinned mischievously, carrying her towards the hallway, pushing open each door until he found the bedroom. Dumping her onto the bed with a slight 'oof' from her, he paused for a moment, breathing hard, his hands on either side of her, face dangerously close to hers, before quickly pushing himself away and over to her drawers.

"No, you are getting up and out of this house, if I have to carry you every step of the way." He said, trying to sound stern, even as a playful grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. After going through the drawers for a moment, he tossed some jeans and a shirt onto the bed. He also disappeared into her bathroom, and the sounds of her shower turning on wafted into the room. Re-appearing, he gave her a stern look. "Now, I'm going back into the living room. If you aren't out there in half an hour, looking presentable, I'll be back." The warning was only semi-serious, but she pretended to scurry into her bathroom, a giggle escaping from her lips.

He returned to the living room, and started to clean up for her, dumping at least three frozen dinner remains into the garbage and snapping off the T.V, wondering vaguely why on earth she was watching soap operas. He folded up the blankets, and picked up the pillow; which had been knocked onto the floor by her flailing arms when she'd tried to escape being carried like a sack of potatoes. He grinned to himself, having enjoyed the sensation of his flesh on hers a lot more then he should have.

Half an hour passed, and then the sound of a door opening greeted his ears and he stood up, watching as she walked in, looking absolutely gorgeous, with her hair straightened and untangled, wearing a low-cut black top and tight jeans. "Now _that _is more like it. You are definitely ready to greet the world." He said, after a second of shocked silence. My, she did clean up well. She grinned sheepishly and shrugged, brushing a small piece of lint off her shirt. "Now come on…" He walked over and opened up the door, letting in the sun. After a second of hesitation, she walked confidently out, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

"There…now doesn't that feel so much better?" He asked, his heart pounding in his throat as he watched her, grinning. "Come on…lets go for a walk…there's a nice park only a block from here…" She glanced at him, and grinned, seemingly acting shy, then tried to give him a stern look.

"Is that an order, Mr. Stokes?" She asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow, putting her hands on her hips. He put on an innocent face and shook his head, his dark eyes shining mischievously. They both watched the other, waiting for them to crack, while the corners of their mouths twitched. Finally, they made eye contact and neither of them could hold it in any longer. Dani started giggling uncontrollably, and Nick was chuckling, and they both were grinning and they started walking.

When they reached the park, they entered, and followed the path, chatting idly, and Nick couldn't help but grin with pride as he saw the cobwebs disappear from her mind, and she became animate and positively giddy. So they walked, Nick trying to work up the courage to tell her, and Dani wishing that he liked her as much as she loved him.

-----------------------------------------------------Five Days Later-----------------------------------

"I'm baaaaack!" Came a happy yell from the crime lab's hallway as Dani sauntered down it, looking absolutely radiant. Familiar heads poked out of doors at the noise, and Greg came rushing out, picking her up and spinning her, making her incredibly dizzy.

"Greg, put her down before you make her sick…" Catherine said, and Dani looked grateful. "Welcome back, Dani…how was your week off?" She continued, grinning.

"Awful, as can be expected…I hate not having anything to do! I resorted to watching soap operas!" Greg put on a mock-appalled face, and indicated the way to the break room with a flourishing bow. "Let's get going, Grissom is handing out assignments in a few minutes." Catherine said, and pushed Greg lightly in the direction of the DNA lab. "Go back to your lab, Greggo, we'll come find you when we need you."

They entered the break room together, and Dani stifled a small grin that crept up into her face as she saw that Nick was already there, chatting with Warrick, but they both looked up when they came in, and Nick grinned a dazzling grin, aimed solely towards Dani. "Welcome back, Dani." Warrick said, glancing at Catherine, both of them wearing identical smirks as they looked at Nick, who was obviously fighting not to show too much emotion.

"I'm glad to be back…" She said, and took a seat on the couch, fidgeting with her hands in her lap, still remembering being saved from total blobness by Nick, only a few days before. The sensation of his face close to hers, his warm breath on her lips…woah, back up there…you're on the job now…and besides, nothing happened…clearing her throat, she grabbed a mug and poured herself some coffee, yawning. "Oh great, I've got to get used to staying up late all over again!" She said, with a mock pout, which soon broke into a grin as she sipped her coffee.

Before any more welcomes could be given, Grissom walked in, noting that Dani had returned, but making no comment except a one word greeting. Rolling her eyes, she took another sip of her coffee, waiting to hear who she would be shadowing, and when her name wasn't called, her grin faded, and she frowned. "What about me?" She asked, while the others disappeared out the door. He looked back and shrugged. "You can't come…you've got to get ready…we're heading to court tomorrow…against Trent Ricardo." With that, he disappeared, leaving her stunned, all joy of getting back to work vanishing, replaced with nervousness. She had to testify against Trent Ricardo…what if she messed up? What if they pressured her and she made a mistake? Oh, so many questions…so many problems…Sighing, she went to find Greg. Maybe he'd cheer her up.

((Phew…sorry it took me so long to update guys, but I have been majorly busy. Exams are coming up, and the teachers have been throwing assignments at us like there's no tomorrow…glares at teachers Review, Review Review!!))


	15. Tender Moment

**A/N: I'm sooo sorry guys, but my exams are finally over and I have the week off, and I'm making a commitment to update every single one of my fanfictions. I swear, if it kills me I'm going to…anyway, onwards we go.**

Chapter 15

The night was almost as bad as staying home all night. Have you ever noticed that when people are stressed, they become clumsy? Well, even if you haven't, it was certainly the case with Danielle. On her way to find Greg, she bumped into Ecklie, spilling her coffee. Although almost all of it sloshed onto her, and only a few drips hit Ecklie's shirt, he started chewing her out, telling her to watch where she was going, and by the time she finally escaped from him, her shirt was stained beyond help. Sighing, she fished in her locker, coming up with a light blue, spaghetti strap top that definitely did not meet the dress code.

After a few seconds of considering her options, she'd finally given up and pulled on the top, leaving the stained one hanging in her locker. Scooting furtively from doorway to doorway, she finally made it to Greg's lab, only to trip on a chair and fall on her face. Greg, unable to help himself, howled with laughter as she explained why she was wearing a way too revealing spaghetti strap top. After threatening him with the careful chopping off of a delicate body part, he finally stopped laughing and offered a lab coat for her to wear overtop.

One would think that that was going to be the worst of her problems, but no, she still had to prepare herself for the trial the next day and to do that, she would need to go over what had happened that night. Did she want to? Of course not…would Greg help her out? No, he was busy with the dayshift's evidence…so therefore, she holed herself up in the locker room, leaning against the lockers as she wrote down notes on a piece of paper, throat closing up as she forced herself to remember.

How long she was there, she couldn't really say, having totally lost track of time. In fact, she didn't even remember where she was until there was a sound from around the corner of the lockers. Startled from her trance, she glanced down at her pad of paper, and realised that she'd flipped the paper over the top ages ago and had been drawing hearts on the other page. Sighing quietly, she pulled her notes back to the front, as if covering up her emotions, and peered around the corner to investigate the noise.

Her heart gave an odd jump as she saw Nick standing by his locker, obviously getting ready to go home. Had she really been in there for that long? Glancing at her watch, she saw that she must have been, for it was past the end of the shift. For some reason, she didn't make her presence known, watching silently from her sitting position as he started talking to himself.

"God damn it man, you gotta get your mind off her…she doesn't feel the same way…get over it…" He sounded annoyed with himself, obviously over a girl…and by the sounds of it, the girl didn't feel the same way. This made no sense to her. How could girl _not _like Nick? He was smart, he was funny…he was handsome, sweet, charming…her muses were interrupted as he continued after a pause, obviously still unaware of her presence.

"You've never had this much trouble before…what is it about her?" He was staring at the inside of his locker, as if there was a person inside it that he was talking to, but she knew he wasn't really seeing anything in his locker. "You've either got to tell her…or get over her." Apparently having made some sort of a decision, whether or not he was happy with it, he closed his locker and lay back on the bench, closing his eyes and letting out a tired breath. He left one arm dangling, and one leg resting on the ground, leaving the rest of him on the bench.

Danielle watched him for a few more minutes before carefully putting her pad down, and creeping up quietly. Seeing as there was enough room, she stretched herself out, resting her chin on her elbows so that she was sort of hovering above his face. Just moving her head about half a foot and she could have kissed him…but no, that wouldn't have been appropriate of course. After a few seconds in which she waited to see if he'd heard her, she moved her face closer so that she was only a few inches from his face.

"Tough day?" A small smile curved at the tips of her lips as his eyes flew open and he jumped, nearly falling off the bench. This was soon followed by a laugh at his expression of shock and he frowned a bit as she laughed, but even she could tell it was fake.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack, you know if we'd been anywhere else I would have shot you before I realised it was you?" He said, which only made her laugh more, but she composed herself, grin on her face, but as he examined her, a real frown hit him as he sat up and turned around to look at her fully. "Have you been crying?"

Her grin faded slightly as she reached up and wiped her eyes. She'd forgotten how she must have looked, as she had been crying. Quite a lot in fact, as she'd forced herself to remember every little detail of that night…it had provoked hurt and angry tears, as the pain was remembered, and she'd clutched at the scar. The sight of Nick had made her totally forget, but her eyes were still red and there were stains on her cheeks from her tears.

Without waiting for an answer, Nick had his arms around her shoulders, as if he knew what was wrong and just wanted to soothe the pain away. "Hey, it's ok to cry you know…" He reminded her as she made a futile attempt to hide her face. "You're really brave, to still be able to laugh and joke around after what you've gone through. Hell, I've met people who've quit the day after some lunatic waves a gun around…what you went through…nothing compares to what you went through, and you're still here…still smiling…so never be afraid to cry."

Never had anyone ever provoked tears in her unless they'd hurt her. What kind of tears she was shedding now, she didn't know, and didn't care. One made it's way from the rim of her eye to make a lonely path down her cheek, but before it went very far, there was a soft hand carefully brushing it away. Now she was definitely sure she'd died and gone to heaven. Her face was only a few inches from Nick's and she could feel his warm breath on her cheek, sending chills down her spine.

Nick was trying to gauge her reaction, wondering if he should go for it, or if he should wait…unfortunately, before any sort of decision was made, there were footsteps approaching the locker room, breaking them both out of the trance they'd seemed to be in. They both pushed away from each other at the exact same moment, obviously afraid to be caught doing absolutely nothing other than having a friendly moment…or was that all it was?

They were not a moment too soon as Nick opened his locker again and Dani retrieved her notepad, and none other than Grissom walked into the room, and his eyes were immediately drawn to Dani who was, to his eyes, blatantly breaking the dress code. The lab coat she'd been wearing had slipped undone, showing her revealing spaghetti strap tank top.

"Danielle, what are you wearing?" He asked, and she could hear the anger in his tone. Glancing down, she awkwardly did up her lab coat again, flushing a deeper red than she'd already been, and Nick, glancing at her, nearly smacked himself with his locker door before he quickly drew his eyes away, knowing it was rude to stare. His mind was still spinning from what had just happened and he had totally missed what she'd been wearing.

"Uh, well, you see, Grissom, I bumped into Ecklie in the hallway and…well, evidence speaks better than words, I guess, so…" Moving over and opening her locker, she extricated the shirt with the large brown coffee stain on it and showed it to him, and he raised an eyebrow. "So you see, I didn't have a choice but to wear this shirt…as you can see, I don't have anything else." Indicating her locker, his blue eyes flickered over for barely a second for confirmation before back on her. He was also glancing at Nick's slightly flushed face, and she had the very bad feeling he was figuring out what had almost happened.

"Don't let it happen again." That was all he said, and he was gone. "Don't forget to be on time for court…" Came his voice from down the hall, and she sighed, tapping her forehead against the locker lightly, having totally forgotten about court the next morning. Nick gave her a reassuring smile, and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Uh…I guess I'll see you in court tomorrow morning…they said I had to be on hand, because they might call me to the stand about, uh, you know…the evidence…" He stammered because she turned her blue eyes on him and he'd nearly forgotten what he was saying, his neck and ears turning red. "So yeah…tomorrow…" He quickly got out of there before anything else awkward happened, leaving Dani breathless as she tried to make sense of it all.

"That wasn't a moment…it c-couldn't have been…he was just comforting me…l-like a friend." She tried to stop herself from falling even farther into the dream world called love, but it was way too late for that. Bringing one hand up to her cheek, a smile graced her lips before she shut her locker, and walked out, an extra bounce to her step that hadn't been there before…

**((Yeah, I know, it's short, and it's full of fluff, but I couldn't help it! The next chapter will be the trial, and, for those of you who are reading Tears and Smiles, you are probably going to become thoroughly confused, because I've decided the flashbacks that I showed in Tears and Smiles aren't going to be how things happen in this story…simply because I decided I didn't like the flashbacks. Anyway, I'll update soon!))**


	16. The Trial

Chapter 16

"Breathe…breathe in…out…" Came a quiet muttering from the hallway as the smart sounds of heels clicking back and forth were heard and the rustling of fabric. "Don't forget anything. Overkill rather than understate…" Mentally preparing yourself for court was something everyone did…it usually didn't help though. Everyone had different ways of dealing with nervousness, some people paced, some fidgeted with their hair and clothes. Danielle did a combination. Talked to herself, fidgeted with her hair and paced, all at once. She was nervous as a cat in a rocking chair factory, and bit her lip constantly; so much that it was going to start bleeding soon.

This was how Grissom and the others found her, as they rounded the corner, on their way to the main courtroom area, where witnesses and spectators were supposed to sit. Danielle was supposed to go in as well, but had been procrastinating, pacing in the hallway. Three times she'd gone up to the door, put her hand on the handle, then stopped, staring at the closed door, knowing who was on the other side, and backed away again. Now, hearing the others approach, she turned around, hair a mess from the many times she'd run her hand through it and tried to smile, but it looked forced out.

"H-Hey guys. W-What are you doing here?" She asked, having assumed that only Nick would be on hand for the evidence, as he'd said. If she screwed up on the stand, she really didn't want all her co-workers there to see her as she crashed and burned.

"Catherine and I have got to be on hand too, because we were collecting evidence after he'd left." Sara said, then indicated Warrick and Grissom. "They wanted to be here for support." Seeing as they meant well, she thought it would be cruel and rude to tell them she didn't want them there, and just smiled, nodding, and looked towards the doors nervously, biting her lip again.

"We should go in." Nick pointed out hesitantly, looking with sympathy at Danielle's frazzled appearance, knowing that she had to clean up before going on the stand. If you look nervous, you're more likely to actually be nervous.

"Hold on…" Catherine, said and walked up to Danielle, carefully smoothing her hair while Danielle glanced down and smoothed her black skirt, and straightened her blue sweater. "Hmm…you guys go in, I have to fix Danielle up, get her ready." Catherine said, and the others nodded, as did Danielle, apparently grateful that someone was helping her. Handing over her purse, which held only the basics, lipstick and some mascara, Catherine re-applied it for her, fixing where she'd smudged it. "There. Perfect."

"Thanks Cath, I appreciate it." Danielle said, smiling nervously, and licking her lips a bit while Catherine nodded, stepping back and opening the courtroom doors, stepping inside and glancing at Danielle. Danielle took a deep breath and walked in ahead of her, pulling off a look of extreme control, even if on the inside she was in turmoil. Nick turned around, and gave her a reassuring look as she sat down at the end of the bench, directly next to him.

"You'll be fine…just give the facts…" He whispered, giving her arm a reassuring squeeze. Nodding, she gave him a weak smile, but her eyes were drawn automatically towards the defendant stand, where Trent Ricardo sat, looking quite calm. Swallowing, she could see him turning around and he looked right at her before smirking. "Ignore him…" Nick, said again, looking right at Trent with a glare that would scare men far braver than him, and he turned back around, looking a bit unnerved.

As the judge entered the courtroom, the bailiff called for everyone to rise. Once everyone was re-seated, the bailiff announced the case, and the various technical necessities were finished with before the attorneys stood to make their opening speeches, outlining their separate cases. Danielle was listening, knowing that she was going to be the first witness called to the stand and her eyes flickered around the jury, knowing that it was them who decided the fate of Trent Ricardo. The death penalty was still on the table, thank god.

First, however, the various other evidence had to be shown. First off was the document that showed that Trent Ricardo owned the abandoned house that one of the victims had been found in. For some reason, Danielle felt better that they didn't use her name. That way, she could pretend it wasn't her they were talking about. That it was some other victim, some other woman. The prosecutor, a tall man with black hair whose name she had never got the chance to find out, was presenting a great case and her confidence soared.

The evidence was suitably argued over as the defendant claimed that Mr. Ricardo had not been to that house in years, and had been in the process of selling the property. This was disputed as it was shown that the property was put on the market after Mr. Ricardo had been arrested, as he had given instructions over the phone to his broker to do so. The phone records were given as proof, and a document showing the day the property had gone on the market.

The prosecutor then brought forth the DNA sample taken from Ricardo, compared to the semen taken from the scene and from all four of the victims. It was a definite match for all of them, and this seemed to stir the jury a bit.

"I'd like to call Danielle Ryan to the stand." It was time. Taking a deep breath, she stood up, walking down the aisle, which seemed to stretch forever, but end all too quickly, push through the small gate and walk over to the stand. The bailiff held forth a Bible and she put her hand on it and the other hand up. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" Gulping she nodded. "I do."

Sitting down, she pulled the microphone so that she could reach it as she fidgeted with her skirt under the table and watched as the persecutor stood nearby, smiling to try and reassure her. "State your name and spell it for the record, please." Someone asked and she did as she was told, then the prosecutor came up to speak with her. "Miss. Ryan. Could you tell me what happened after you left your two co-workers that night?" He asked, and she nodded, taking a deep breath.

"I had to get a spotlight, to light up the clearing where we had to process, so I walked down the trail and to the SUV. I opened up the trunk, and reached in to grab the spotlight, and knocked off a file by accident. I-I bent to pick it up, then reached in to grab the light again and the last thing I remember is something hitting my head and I fell, dropping the light, then hit the ground and blacked out." Taking slow breaths, she quickly ran that over in her head to make sure she hadn't missed anything crucial and swallowed a bit.

"What's the next thing you remember?" He was speaking as if she were a traumatised damsel in distress, which she knew was the impression he wanted to give the jury for sympathy. She wouldn't go along with it, but she wouldn't go against it either. "I remember waking up somewhere. My hands were handcuffed to a chair, and my ankles and mouth were duct-taped." Here she paused, then took a deep breath and continued. "A door behind me opened, and someone came in…then he walked around and I recognised him."

"Who was it?" "Trent Ricardo…a suspect in a case I had worked on when I worked in Toronto…" "Could you point him out to me please?" Raising her hand, she swallowed and pointed to him. "Let the record show that the witness is pointing to the defendant, Trent Ricardo." The prosecutor let the jury take this in, making their notes, before coming back over.

"Can you describe what happened to you that night?" Gulping, she hesitated for just a second, then nodded.

"I…He undid the handcuffs and the duct-tape, b-but he told me that if I screamed or tried to get away, that he'd slit my throat with the knife he produced from his back pocket." Taking a deep breath, her eyes travelled around the court for a minute, landing on Nick, who gave her a reassuring smile and a nod, and she continued. "He pushed me into a corner, and…he started to…undo my shirt." Putting one hand up to her shirt, she continued after a small pause. "I tried to struggle, but he had the knife against my throat…" At this point she stopped, her throat closing up, she couldn't continue, and to her horror, tears were starting to form in her eyes. "H-He raped me, and, when I struggled, he stabbed me in the shoulder. I-I think h-he was aiming for my heart." Screw the details, she couldn't go through them. Not here. Not now.

The persecutor nodded, and let her drink a sip of the water the bailiff brought her before asking his next question. "Do you have any scars from this?" When she nodded, he continued. "Could you show the jury, please?" Gulping, she pulled down her sweater and her shirt to show the horrible scar on her shoulder, and there was a collective intake of breath from around the courtroom. She couldn't look at anyone, her eyes were fixed on the desk in front of her, and she pulled the shirt up quickly. "No further questions, your honour."

The defendant's attorney stood up to ask her questions, walking over to her. Her stern grey eyes and brown hair immediately intimidated Danielle. "Miss Ryan. Is it not true that you are co-workers with a Nick Stokes?" Blinking at this unexpected question, she nodded. "What is your relationship with him?" Obviously startled at this question, she opened her mouth to answer, but her attorney stood up. "Objection, your honour, this has nothing to do with the case."

"Sustained." The judge conceded and the attorney smiled in a sickly sweet way, then continued on with her questioning. "Miss. Ryan, as you stated earlier, you knew the defendant when you lived in Toronto, Canada?"

"That's correct. He was a suspect in a case I did the testing on." Feeling much more relaxed, knowing that the worst was over, she settled back, wiping any wayward tears from her face carefully. Now was not the time to show weakness, but courage.

"But he was not convicted. Now, is it not true that you were overheard as saying that…you believed he was guilty of that murder?" Startled at this question, she opened her mouth for a moment before answering. "Yes, I did have suspicions." She said warily, and the attorney smiled that sickly smile again, like a cat that has just caught a mouse.

"So you were frustrated. Is it not true that perhaps whom you saw in the house was not Trent Ricardo, but someone else you did not recognise? However, in your continued frustration about the case in Toronto, you put another name to this figure?" Wondering what the hell she was talking about, Danielle opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off as her prosecutor stood up again. "Objection, your honour, there is no proof whatsoever that the victim had any sort of grudge against the defendant or knowledge that the defendant was anywhere other than still in Toronto. I move to strike this question from the record on the basis of assuming."

"So stricken. Miss Lawson, please continue with your questioning." Looking at Miss. Lawson, Danielle realised that she was trying to get him to walk on a technicality. Improper acquirement of evidence, or acquirement without proper reason or warrant. The signs of a truly desperate ploy. "No further questions, your honour." Finally, the words she wanted to hear. "The witness may step down." Stepping down, she walked back to her seat next to Nick and took a deep breath, holding her face in her hands as he carefully patted her back.

Afterwards was mostly a blur, as they called Catherine to the stand about the evidence, and then the closing speeches were made by the attorneys, and then the jury went to recess to come to a verdict. They were only out for an hour before returning and Danielle did not move from her spot, face in hands, as Nick gently patted her back, speaking soothingly to her, obviously concerned. He had not been called to the stand, not that he had really expected to and he squeezed her hand lightly to indicate that the jury was back, and she brought her head up, tears staining her cheeks.

"Members of the jury. Have you come to a verdict?" The judge asked the standing juror, who nodded. "We have your honour." Picking up his piece of paper, the time seemed to stretch, and his voice warped into slow motion while Danielle held her breath, squeezing Nick's hand like a lifeline, nearly breaking his fingers. It was like the words were out of synch with the man's mouth, and it was travelling through a vacuum. "We find…the defendant…guilty on all charges." Letting out her breath, she put her head in her hands, not even listening to whatever else he said. It didn't matter.

Nick, as soon as they were out in the parking lot at the end, could hardly contain his happiness and hoisted her up, spinning her around a couple times before setting her down, grinning from ear to ear. Danielle couldn't help it, his giddiness was contagious, and soon she was grinning too. "He's gone." She whispered hoarsely, almost afraid to believe it.

"That's right, he's gone and all thanks to you!" He said, and spun her again, narrowly avoiding some lady on her way out, who looked at him sternly. "Sorry, sorry." He said quickly, but not even that seemed possible to dampen his mood. Warrick and Greg (when had Greg gotten here? She couldn't remember that at all…) came up next to him, looking at him oddly, with Greg smiling like a Cheshire cat.

"Hey guys, we were just going to go have a victory drink. You coming?" Greg said, still grinning, and Nick nodded immediately, but Dani hesitated, uncertain. Then, she shook her head. "No guys…I think I'm gonna head home…I need some time by myself." The seemed to understand and walked off, smiling and laughing, and Nick glanced over his shoulder at her, and waved. Danielle chuckled slightly and waved back, watching them until they were gone, then sighed, unlocking her car and climbing in, taking a deep breath of relief. It was over. It was really over.

((I'm sooo sorry it took me so long to update…the next chapter won't take so long, I swear! Yeah, and you can tell by this whole chapter that I've watched way too much Law and Order - Hehe…see you later everyone!))


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